Joe Gibbs Gets Personal in Sharing Details on Early Stages of NFL-to-NASCAR Journey

"It was actually really crazy," Joe Gibbs said. "Moved to California when I was 16 — my family did — and honestly, it was a great time to grow up out there. It was hot rods, drag racing and football.

"I fell in love with cars. I wanted to do drag races. I had everything — from a gas coupe to a gas dragster and a top fuel dragster. Built a top fuel dragster. Thank goodness I blew it up right off the bat — didn't have enough money to put it back together. But I fell in love with cars at that point.

"Then I went all the way through — started coaching and moved all over the country. J.D. and Coy came along, and when J.D. graduated from college, he said, 'Dad, I'd rather do something in racing. Could we do something in racing?' And honestly, Coy was right there.

"I said, 'Well, we don't have enough time to try and find a sponsor — we'll just put a dream on a piece of paper.' And that's what we literally did."

With just a written idea, the 84-year-old revealed that JGR had no racing resources — no drivers, no workshops, and so on — when he approached his first sponsor, Norm Miller, the Chairman Emeritus of Interstate Batteries.

"We showed up on Norm Miller's doorstep — Interstate Batteries," the JGR owner said. "I still remember the meeting. And he goes, 'Now, who's your driver?' I went, 'We don't have one.' He goes, 'Now, where's your race shop?' I said, 'We don't have one.' I said, 'Norm, this is a dream on a sheet of paper.'

"And I was honest with him. And I say to this day that Norm is the only CEO with the guts to step out and go racing with a football coach. And so that's how we started."

With the JGR-Interstate partnership still intact, the racing team has expanded to 450 people, fielding nine cars across three NASCAR divisions. It has won five Cup and four Xfinity Series Championships, becoming one of the successful teams in the sport.