The world of NASCAR never fails to surprise its fans. After carrying out a plethora of experiments in the 2023 Cup Series season, NASCAR is ready to step up its game with its Santa’s bag of surprises ready to be unfurled at the right time. It was just days back that the racing fandom was taken aback by LeBron James’ association with the RFK Racing team. Still, trying to grasp the situation, when NASCAR dropped another bombshell announcement: Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson would serve as the Grand Marshall for the Daytona 500.

While there is no element of surprise of Johnson bracing the stage of the Great American race, what might come as a shock to many is that the Rock was on the verge of owning his own NASCAR, back in early 2000. However, due to a sudden turn of events, the plans did not fall into place. Rather, it resulted in a murkier affair of lawsuits and a loss of a whopping $750,000.

The name ‘Rock’ crumbled the hopes of Dwayne Johnson from owning a NASCAR team

There is a sense of allure in the burned smell of smoke and the tracks of NASCAR that entice stalwarts from other sports to flock to the ovals. Whether it is the cut-throat nature of the sport or the mind-boggling speed of the stock, legends like Michael Jordan and Floyd Mayweather have found themselves investing and forming their own NASCAR teams, 23XI Racing and Money Team Racing. While both these legends have been successful in their terms of investment, the same cannot be asserted for The Rock.

Dwayne Johnson, before lending his amicable voice as the Grand Marshall for the upcoming Daytona 500, had forged a connection with the former NASCAR driver Hermie Sadler to build a racing team to compete in the premier series of NASCAR. However, things fell apart at the eleventh hour, just five days before the official announcement, and crumbled to dust. To understand the inception of this failed proposition, one has to turn back the pages of history and revisit the year 2000, when the Rock was already a star on the rise.

In the early 2000s, the world of wrestling had found a growing presence in the racing world. A plethora of cars flaunted the liveries of WWF, starring Undertaker and more. Drivers like Jerry Toliver drove an NHRA Funny car that was sponsored by WWF. Furthermore, Sadler himself drove a WWF car in the August Bristol Busch Race. According to a Twitter post by Nascarcasm, it was back in the mid-90s that Sadler had roped in Johnson to feature in the commercials for his car dealership. Moreover, in exchange for the commercials, Sadler would provide Johnson with a Cadillac to drive. As a result of this, both the athletes befriended each other. 

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Amidst the infiltration of the wrestling world in NASCAR, Joe Bessey Motorsports was running dry out of its resources and finances. The team failed to make 11 races with five different drivers. To add to the woes of the team, the sponsors left the team compelling the owner to sell the team. Capitalizing on the opportunity, Sadler stretched his lending arms and promised to purchase the team and roped in Johnson as the co-owner of the new team. Moreover, the team under the ownership of Sadler and Johnson on November 6, 2000, filed for the trademark of the team with the name ‘The Rock Racing.’

However, not every beginning has a fruitful and happy ending. The same awaited for the Rock and Sadler. Moreover, the carpets were laid for the grand unveiling of the team as the media outlets announced, “A major NASCAR Winston Cup announcement” at the Concord Mills Mall on December 19th. The new team would be unveiled. They would debut in the 2001 Daytona 500.” However, heartbreak awaited just around the corner.

Hermie Sadler lay bares the repercussions of the legal notice

It was not long before the legal complications made their way to be a stumbling block for the formation of the new team. The root cause lay in the name, ‘The Rock’ as it carried certain limitations. The pseudonym of Johnson was a character controlled by WWF. Owing to this, the authorities of the wrestling world turned their attention to the owners and requested them the spill the details about the team. 

This resulted in the legal team barring Sadler from the formation of the team and a warning of not contacting the wrestler again in the future. It was just five days before the inauguration of the team; the plans fell flat on its face. Furthermore, to add to the pains of Sadler, who had already purchased the cars, leased a building, and recruited employees, the former NASCAR driver suffered a loss of $750,000 due to the collapse.

Appearing in a podcast Learning Left and Right, recalling the incidents from two decades earlier, Hermie Sadler exclaimed, “I went two days in a row and was unable to reach him, so I started getting concerned. A few days later he got a letter from WWE which was basically was a cease and desist letter telling me not only was my partnership with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson done, I was no longer allowed to communicate with him.”

With that being said, had the deal turned out to be a successful one, it would have been a unique spectacle for the fans to see these stalwarts in the garage area during the weekends fighting for one mutual goal. 

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