We’re back for season two of Off the Wall With… and we’ve got five brand-new questions for your favorite racing personalities! This week: XFINITY Series veteran Brendan Gaughan.
What was your first race car and what number was it?
Brendan Gaughan: My very first racecar was a little Superlite buggy for the desert that had No. 13 on it. My first race ever was in a Class 10 dunebuggy and 1077 was our number.
What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you during a race?
Gaughan: In a NASCAR race, not many crazy things happen. But at Richmond last year with that fire was the most impressive thing that’s ever happened to me in a NASCAR race.
What was the first concert you ever attended?
Gaughan: Chicago. I was like 16 years old and I went with my mother.
What’s the best practical joke you were ever involved in, as either perpetrator or victim?
Gaughan: I love practical jokes. I had one teacher for four years in high school. He was a great guy—Rob Goodrich. I loved him. He had a Suzuki Samurai. Did you know a Suzuki Samurai will actually fit perpendicular in a parking spot? So a bunch of the guys on the football team actually picked up his Suzuki Samurai and put it sideways in a parking spot. And then at the end of the year, we took it—I stole his keys from his desk and drove it down to the senior plaza. Then we filled it with all the recycling bins from all the classrooms, all the way up to the roof and we put his keys on the floorboard and locked it so he had to climb through the back to get in.
What was the worst thing you hid from your parents as a kid?
Gaughan: I don’t think we can write that… Well, I hid my first big speeding ticket from my father. My mother helped me get out of it, because it was a very large ticket in the state of California. My dad never found out until I was in my mid-20’s
In case you missed it:
| What was your 1st race car and what number was it? | What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you during a race? | What was the first concert you attended? | What was the best practical joke you were involved in as either perpetrator or victim? | What was the worst thing you hid from your parents as a kid? | |
| David Ragan | No. 77 Bandolero | Throwing up in the car | Doobie Brothers & Tom Petty | Rather watch than be involved | Nothing! |
| Casey Mears | No. 10 Super Lite off-road | A guy running onto the track under a red flag | Soul Asylum | Being in a van when Sterling Marlin threw a quarter-stick of dynamite under it | “Borrowing” dad’s Jeep at 14 when parents were out of town |
| Chris Buescher | No. 67 dirt bike | Being upside down in a Legends car | Can’t remember exactly | Putting the wrong name on the windshied | Tore up truck playing in the snow |
| Gray Gaulding
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No. 07 (Bobby Dotter’s Number) | Trying to avoid the Big One at Daytona | Jason Aldean | Pranking manager Rusty | Drove a family friend’s car down the street at age 8 |
Amy is an 20-year veteran NASCAR writer and a six-time National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) writing award winner, including first place awards for both columns and race coverage. As well as serving as Photo Editor, Amy writes The Big 6 (Mondays) after every NASCAR Cup Series race. She can also be found working on her bi-weekly columns Holding A Pretty Wheel (Tuesdays) and Only Yesterday (Wednesdays). A New Hampshire native whose heart is in North Carolina, Amy’s work credits have extended everywhere from driver Kenny Wallace’s website to Athlon Sports. She can also be heard weekly as a panelist on the Hard Left Turn podcast that can be found on AccessWDUN.com's Around the Track page.