AJ Allmendinger and the No. 47 Kroger ClickList team are throwing it back to their roots at Darlington Raceway for NASCAR Throwback, honoring driver Robert Pressley’s 1998 car.
Allmendinger’s paint scheme pays tribute to the No. 59 car driven by Pressley for JTG Daugherty Racing in the 1998 NASCAR Busch Series (NASCAR XFINITY Series today). Pressley drove the red white and blue No. 59 Kingsford Match Light car for 18 races in that year with six top-10 finishes and two pole awards (Hickory Speedway and Auto Club Speedway).
“It’s really special to run a paint scheme that’s a big part of JTG Daugherty Racing’s history,” Allmendinger said. “Robert’s son, Coleman, is my spotter, and I’m proud to be able to run this paint scheme that’s in the JTG Daugherty Racing family. Kerry Tharp, all the folks at Darlington Raceway and NASCAR Hall of Fame do a great job with throwback weekend and bringing the Hall of Famers out and creating an exciting weekend for our avid fans. It’s just a cool tradition that we enjoy being a part of each year. We can’t wait to get on track with Pressley’s paint scheme in a few weeks with our No. 47 Kroger ClickList Camaro ZL1.”
There’s more to the story than a driver and team connection. Robert Pressley introduced team co-owner Brad Daugherty to team owner Tad Geschickter, while Daugherty was living with Pressley. Daugherty and Pressley met in the 1980s, both from towns close to each other in North Carolina. Pressley asked Daugherty to stop by his race shop to hangout, where Daugherty learned about racing late models around the Southeast and how to build and work on race cars on the cusp of becoming a five-time NBA All-Star (1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993) with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Learning of Daugherty’s same passion for racing and knowing his history in the sport, Tad and Jodi Geschickter formed a partnership with Daugherty and renamed the team JTG Daugherty Racing. All because of Pressley and his relationship with Tad Geschickter.
“Robert and I used to drag an old late model up and down the East Coast back in the 1980s,” Daugherty said. “On many occasions I would serve as the gasman on the old No. 59 way back in the day. It’s really exciting to see his car come back to life in the Darlington throwback race.”
In Pressley’s NASCAR career, he competed in all of the top three premier series, collecting 12 career wins, 54 top-five finishes, and 114 top-10 finishes and six pole awards spanning a 20-year NASCAR career.
“The Darlington Raceway throwback race is always a fun race to participate in for us,” Tad Geschickter said. “It’s really special to be able to throw it back to one of our own cars, right in the middle of when we were really starting to grow our racing business in 1998. We’ve always been a family-driven company, and to have had Robert as a driver and his son Coleman now as AJ’s spotter, it makes the paint scheme all the more special.”
Allmendinger will wheel the No. 47 Kroger ClickList Camaro ZL1 paying tribute to Pressley and the No. 59 1998 car at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, September 2 at 6:00pm ET on NBC Sports Network.
JTG Daugherty Racing PR
