Kevin Buckler (born c. 1959) is an American race car driver and entrepreneur. He founded Adobe Road Winery [1] and currently owns The Racer's Group, a professional sports car racing team; TRG Motorsports, formerly a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team; and TRG-AMR. In 2019, Kevin launched a $56 racing-themed wine aptly named SHIFT. It comes from Adobe Road, a boutique winery in Sonoma County California. [2]
Buckler began racing at the local level in the late 1980s. He attended his first high-speed race in 1990. In 1992, Kevin and his wife Debra created The Racer's Group (TRG) as a Porsche Club Racing business that has grown into much more. [3] 1995 saw Buckler take his first start as a professional driver. He would go on to win that race, beginning a notable career in professional motorsports. Off the track the same year, Kevin and his wife, along with friends, opened Adobe Road Winery in Sonoma County California. In 2002, TRG with support from Porsche Factory, won the GT class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Buckler would lead TRG to 3 more GT class wins in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, including an overall 1st place in 2003. TRG holds the record for the team with the most Rolex Sports Car Series GT victories at 29, and is ranked third for the most GT pole positions with 15. [4] In 2009, Buckler would expand his racing horizons into NASCAR with the formation of TRG Motorsports. TRG Motorsports would go on to take 106 starts in the Sprint Cup Series with 2 top 10 finishes and 6 starts in the Camping World Truck Series, taking 6 starts with 2 top 10 finishes and 1 top 5 finish. [5] In 2012 TRG Motorsports announced it would not continue competing in NASCAR, but would focus on Grand-Am. [6] As Buckler and TRG continued to make a name for their selves on the track, Kevin and Adobe Road Winery established themselves as a boutique national brand. Adobe Road wines have collected many awards, and has 15 wines receiving Wine Spectator scores of 90 and above including the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Beckstoffer Georges III which received a score of 94 out of 100. [7]
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 |  The Racer's Group |  Lucas Luhr Timo Bernhard | Porsche 911 GT3-RS | GT | 322 | 16th | 1st |
| 2003 | The Racer's Group | Jörg Bergmeister Timo Bernhard | Porsche 911 GT3-RS | GT | 304 | 20th | 5th |
The International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) is a North American sports car racing sanctioning body based in Daytona Beach, Florida under the jurisdiction of the ACCUS arm of the FIA. It was started by John Bishop, a former executive director of SCCA, and his wife Peggy in 1969 with help from Bill France Sr. of NASCAR. Beginning in 2014, IMSA is the sanctioning body of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, the premier series resulting from the merger of Grand-Am Road Racing and the American Le Mans Series. IMSA is owned by NASCAR, as a division of the company.
Scott Donald Pruett is a former American race car driver who has competed in NASCAR, CART, IMSA, Trans-Am and Grand-Am. He and his wife Judy have three children and are children's book authors. Pruett started racing go karts at the age of 8 and went on to win 10 professional karting championships. In the 1980s, he established himself as a top American sports car racer, eventually winning two IMSA GTO championships and three Trans-Am Series championships.
Ryan Dalziel, is a Scottish professional racing driver. Dalziel has seen the most success in his career in the United States, racing in the American Le Mans Series GT1 class and the Champ Car World Series, and winning the 2010 24 Hours of Daytona.
Jan Heylen is a championship-winning Belgian racing driver, based out of Tampa, Florida.
Robert Franklin "Butch" Leitzinger is an American professional racing driver. He is best known as an ALMS driver with Dyson Racing, but he has also driven for a variety of other teams and race series. He won the IMSA Pro WSC Ckampionship driver's titles in both 1997 and 1998 while driving for Dyson Racing. Also a three time winner of the Daytona 24 hours race in 1994, 1997 and 1999.
The Racer's Group, or TRG, is a WeatherTech SportsCar Championship racing team located in Petaluma, California, owned by Kevin Buckler and his wife Debra. TRG has competed professionally in road racing since 1995. The team formerly competed in NASCAR as TRG Motorsports from 2007 to 2011.
Colin James Braun is an American racing driver. He is the 2014 and 2015 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Prototype Challenge Champion and currently drives the No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-06 for Meyer Shank Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the No. 04 CrowdStrike Mercedes AMG-GT3 in the Fanatec GT World Challenge America Series. Driving the ARX-06, he was part of the winning team of the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona. He formerly competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the Xfinity Series. He lives in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion is an annual event held at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California. Its purpose is to provide an event in which historic racecars can compete. It takes place over the course of one weekend every mid-August. It was first established by Steve Earle in 1974 as the Monterey Historic Automobile Races. Earle organized the meeting for his friends to race their cars at Laguna Seca. The event, known as the Monterey Historics until 2010, acts as a part of Monterey Car Week, which includes the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and other events.
Andrew J. Lally is an American professional auto racing driver. He competes full-time in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving the Audi R8 for Magnus Racing and part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 15/51 Ford Mustang for Rick Ware Racing.
Justin Marks is an American racing driver, entrepreneur, and current owner of Trackhouse Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. He last competed in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, driving the No. 93 for Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian in the GT Daytona class.
Dane Cameron is an American racing driver from Glen Ellen, California. He won the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship overall in 2016 and 2019, and also in the GTD class in 2014.
Ryan A. Eversley is an American professional auto racing driver. Since 2015, Eversley has been a Honda factory driver who primarily races in sports car racing championships such as the Michelin Pilot Challenge and Pirelli World Challenge. He won the 2018 PWC TCR championship.
Lucas Luhr is a German BMW factory racing driver, currently competing for BMW and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the GTLM category of the Tudor United SportsCar Championship.
Dion von Moltke is an American-born race car driver who has participated under a South African racing license for the majority of his career. Von Moltke currently competes in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship GTD class with Paul Miller Racing in the #48 Audi R8 LMS with co-driver Christopher Haase. His early career involved an upbringing in karts and the Skip Barber National Championship.
The 2014 United SportsCar Championship was the inaugural season of the International Motor Sports Association's new series created out of a merger of the Rolex Sports Car Series and the American Le Mans Series and the first to be held under the name as the United SportsCar Championship. It began with the 24 Hours of Daytona, the first time since the 1997 IMSA GT Championship season that IMSA sanctioned an event at Daytona International Speedway on 25 January and ended on 4 October at Petit Le Mans. It was the 44th overall season of IMSA GT championship racing tracing its lineage to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship.
The 2016 24 Hours of Daytona was an International Motor Sports Association (IMSA)-sanctioned 24-hour automobile endurance race for Prototype and Grand Touring sports cars held at the Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida, from January 30 to 31, 2016, before approximately 35,000 people. It was the first of twelve 2016 IMSA SportsCar Championship races, the 54th 24 Hours of Daytona, and the first of the four-round North American Endurance Cup.
Mikhail "Misha" Goikhberg, is a Russian-born Canadian race car driver who is best known for competing in the IMSA SportsCar Championship.
The 2017 IMSA SportsCar Championship was the 47th season of the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) GT Championship that traces its lineage to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. It was the fourth season of the United SportsCar Championship and second under the name as the IMSA SportsCar Championship. It began on 28 January with the 24 Hours of Daytona, and ended on 7 October with the Petit Le Mans.
The 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship is the 53rd racing season sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association, which traces its lineage back to the 1971 IMSA GT Championship. It is also the tenth season of the IMSA SportsCar Championship since the merger between the American Le Mans Series and the Rolex Sports Car Series in 2014, and the eighth under the sponsorship of WeatherTech. The 2023 season marks an overhaul season for the championship, with a change in class structure and a new race on the season calendar at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The championship began with the 24 Hours of Daytona on January 28 and is scheduled to conclude with the Petit Le Mans on October 14 after 11 races.
The 2023 24 Hours of Daytona was an endurance sports car race sanctioned by the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). The event was held at Daytona International Speedway combined road course in Daytona Beach, Florida, on January 28–29, 2023. This event was the 61st running of the 24 Hours of Daytona since its inception in 1962, and the first of 11 races across multiple classes in the 2023 IMSA SportsCar Championship, as well as the first of four rounds in the 2023 Michelin Endurance Cup. The No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing Acura, driven by Tom Blomqvist, Colin Braun, Hélio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, took the overall win, but were later penalized for tire pressure data manipulation, resulting in penalties, fines and probation for those responsible. This was Meyer Shank's second Rolex 24 win in a row, and their third in four events. The No. 10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura finished second overall and scored the most points towards the GTP championship.