NFL Hall of Famer Tim Brown shares NASCAR team ownership dream

NFL Hall of Famer Tim Brown has been thinking about acquiring a NASCAR team. The former pro said he had missed his chance of owning one, but the dream resurfaced recently.

On The Bag with Rashad Jennings and Lindsay McCormick podcast, Brown shared that the dream had slipped past almost 15 years ago due to the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Now, the 56-year-old is ready to resume his ambition as he has retired.

“The one venture that I looked at getting into, and I ended up not doing, and it’s coming back around now because I got three or four guys who are getting into it, is NASCAR. When I retired, that’s what I wanted to be, the owner of a NASCAR team,” Brown said.

“Actually, you know, I think we would have gotten it done, but at the end of 2007, into 2008 was when we had the big financial crash, so everybody was bowing out and the team we were with said ‘Tim, we’re not going to be able to do it.’”

Brown, who spent most of his NFL career with the then Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders from 1988 to 2003, said his early plan to enter NASCAR was to tag along with Roush Fenway Racing for a team that focuses heavily on the NASCAR Drive for Diversity program. His primary goal was to help minority and female drivers for a chance to race in the big league.

“So, I wish I would have gotten that done because now Emmitt [Smith] is doing something, and I think a couple of other African Americans are doing something in NASCAR,” Brown added.

A former NFL pro, Smith ventured into NASCAR as the owner of Jesse Iwuji Motorsports, a new NASCAR team that debuted in Daytona earlier this season.

Aside from Smith, there are other minority owners in NASCAR. The star-studded list includes NBA legend Michael Jordan, co-owner of 23XI Racing, and the 15-time world championship boxer Floyd Mayweather, who owns The Money Team Racing. Additionally, the Grammy Award-winning rapper Pitbull is a co-owner of Trackhouse Racing.