Boxing legend and Hall of Famer Floyd Mayweather announced his jump into the NASCAR ring Tuesday where he will join the growing list of celebrity team owners with The Money Team Racing. As a tribute to Mayweather’s undefeated boxing record of fifty wins, the team’s Chevrolet Camaro will sport the number 50. The team will carry sponsor company Pit Viper a sunglass company, whose motto is “demand respect and authority.”
“I love fast cars and I love to compete,” Mayweather said. “I know NASCAR will not be easy, but anything easy isn’t worth doing to me. With that being said, this move into auto racing seems to be a perfect fit for the Mayweather brand.”
He’s set up a good team around him, including longtime Dale-Earnhardt crew chief Tony Eury Jr. atop the pit box, and part-owner William Auchmoody as general manager to run the team on a daily basis. The longtime member of the NASCAR industry Auchmoody has been a team manager for several smaller teams in the last decade.
“This deal has been a long time coming and we are finally at the starting line,” he said. “Every time we thought we would be able to hit the track, something happened, including a global pandemic… And now we are here going to our first race.”
The team will enter the Daytona 500 as well as “select races in 2022” with 23-year-old driver Kaz Grala. Grala has four starts in the Cup Series, finishing in the top-10 twice, with his lone national series win coming at Daytona in the truck series.
“We know we will need some time to grow together as a new organization, but I couldn’t be more thrilled to be a part of building this team from the ground up,” Grala said. “I know Floyd is here to win, and I absolutely feel that everyone involved in this program is capable of making that happen.”
In the ring Mayweather has taken part in several exhibition matches in the past several years with opponents ranging from MMS star Conor McGregor, Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa, and last June with social media celebrity Logan Paul. Whether Mayweather will actually be at this year’s Daytona 500 remains to be seen. He is currently scheduled to appear in another exhibition bout against YouTube star Money Kicks, with the fight set to take place on a helipad at a hotel in Dubai on February 20, the same day his team will make its NASCAR debut in the Daytona 500. Without a charter however, the team will need to make the race on speed so are not guaranteed a starting spot.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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