May 11, 2003|By SANDRA McKEE
WASHINGTON - The Georgetown University gym was almost empty. Most of the media had gone or moved on to Hoyas men's basketball coach Craig Esherick, and former player Brendan Gaughan picked up a basketball, bounced it through his legs and then lofted a jump shot. The ball bounced on the rim and threatened to fall away before finally tumbling through the hoop.
Gaughan took a quick look around and grinned.
Basketball isn't what he does anymore. In fact, when the former Hoya played for coach John Thompson and then-assistant Esherick (1995-1997), making baskets wasn't his job then, either.
"Basically, my role was to beat the [heck] out of Allen Iverson for two years," Gaughan said of his days on the team with the guard who went on to become a Philadelphia 76ers star. "And I got two Big East championship rings for doing it."
Gaughan, 27, whose name is pronounced "Gone," is third in points in the Craftsman Truck Series. He doesn't look like a basketball player. He measures about 5 feet 7 - unless you count the height of his hair, which he laughingly claimed, "makes me 5-9," - and 190 pounds.
"He came to Georgetown as a place-kicker for football and walked on for basketball," Esherick said. "For three years, his job was to aggravate the heck out of our starting point guards and I tell you, the people he guarded - Allen, Victor Page - left the gym very aggravated many times. Brendan did a good job preparing his teammates for what they'd face in games."
Now, Gaughan sees himself as the Allen Iverson of his race team. Now, he is the star, and his teammates are the role players.
"And I know, I couldn't go anywhere without them," he said. "I need my crew chief, my tire changers, my jack man. I don't know the first thing about springs."
Still, he always seems to accomplish the unexpected. The year he came to Georgetown was the first year the Hoyas' football team moved up to Division I-AA. His kicks helped the school go to the Bermuda Bowl, where Gaughan hit the winning field goal.
The next year, he hit a 48-yarder to pull out the homecoming game.
The memories of the 40 basketball games he played in aren't as vivid as his memories of practices.
"Allen made Michael Jordan look ridiculous when Michael had to guard him this season," Gaughan said. "I broke my ankle, literally, guarding Iverson, when he hit me with a crossover. But I looked at my job as being to make him better. I put everything I had into doing that."
Now, he puts everything into his racing, a sport he has competed in since the age of 15. He has won championships in off-road competitions and was Rookie of the Year in the truck series last season. This year, he is still searching for a sponsor but with the help of a casino (The Orleans) owned by his father, he is going for the truck championship. And then? A move up to Winston Cup.
Gaughan lives in Las Vegas, where his father is chairman of Coast Resorts Inc.
Esherick, who went to Dover International Speedway last year to watch Gaughan compete, doesn't doubt the former Hoya will do what he plans. "My respect for him jumped tenfold when I went to that race," said Esherick, who had never seen a car or truck race. "That he had the courage - it was mind-boggling to me. The pressure he has to be under, running those speeds against all those other trucks.
"I was behind the pits with an earpiece on and I developed a real appreciation for the sport. And it is a sport. ... The only thing I see that separates it from other sports is the courage it takes to do it."
The driver was at Georgetown to promote the truck race at Dover scheduled for May 30.
Marylanders abound
The NHRA's 34th annual K&N Filters SuperNationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., next weekend will include an abundance of Maryland competitors.
In the running are Jim Cunningham, Pro Stock, Crownsville; Steven Lamplough, Top Alcohol Dragster, Severna Park; and Paul Lee, Top Alcohol Funny Car, Gaithersburg.
Competing in Super Stock are Frank Lupo, North East; Norm Hall, Waldorf; Leon Miranian, Davidsonville; George Taylor Jr., Baltimore; Larry Mohar, Hagerstown; and Gary Ewing, Bel Air.
In the Stock class are Brian Van Poppel, Perry Hill; Emory Stull Jr., Woodbine; Mark Dickerson, Baltimore; William Eyring III, Baltimore; and Robert Pare, Union Bridge.
In Super Comp are Lou Roark, North East; Christine Cox, Whiteford; Cecil Combs, New Windsor (who will also compete in the Super Gas class); Darrel Cox Jr., Whiteford; and Jeff Kundratic, Fallston.
In Super Gas are Larry Judd, Cumberland; Dale Koncen, Mechanicsville; and Marc Combs, New Windsor.
Outlaws coming
The O'Reilly World of Outlaws Series comes to Hagerstown Speedway Saturday night. Driver Danny Lasoski is leading 17-time series champion Steve Kinser by 69 points, thanks to six race wins this season.
Driving for Winston Cup champion Tony Stewart, Lasoski is looking for his second win at Hagerstown. He won at the track May 30, 1998.
Also on the card will be the Late Models. Practice is at 7:30 p.m., with racing at 8. Gates open at 5.
Nuts and bolts
Dion Ciccarelli, also of Severn, will attempt to qualify for the Busch Series race at Dover on May 31. Ciccarelli and his Glidden Motorsports team had bad luck at Richmond International Raceway last weekend. Ciccarelli was the second car out to qualify on the track that was seeping water in the first turn. He, like the driver before him, crashed. NASCAR then closed the track to fix the problem. ... Severn driver Johnny Smith is sixth in Hagerstown Speedway's Late Model Sportsman points standings.
