RELATED: An inside look at Furniture Row’s rise
Editor’s note: This story was published in September 2016.
DENVER — Establishing a major NASCAR team in Denver — far from the massive Southeastern hub of the sport’s longtime passionate fandom — may have seemed an incredible challenge. But it has turned out to be a welcome awakening.
As Denver’s own Furniture Row Racing team continues to succeed on the track and exceed expectations as championship-caliber organization, its hometown couldn’t be more supportive.
Team owner Barney Visser lunches with the mayor, Denver’s television news anchors are practically on a first-name basis with the entire team and even the city’s reigning Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos recognize there’s plenty of room for sports excellence in these parts.
The only playoff team located outside NASCAR’s Carolina-Virginia hub had to work as hard for its respect as it did for its success. But now this entire region of the country considers Furniture Row Racing its very own.
“I really feel like Denver and Colorado are sports-oriented, very outdoorsy minded people,” explained Adele Arakawa, the hugely popular news anchor of Denver’s NBC television affiliate and an amateur sports car racer who has attended multiple NASCAR races to film stories on the FRR team for her viewers.
“Whenever you have a team that’s having success like Furniture Row, there are a lot of people who are willing to learn about the sport and embrace, especially a team they see as the underdog.
“Here, especially so. They like to pull for a team that may not be the favorite. They know what it was like when the Broncos first started out and (baseball’s Colorado) Rockies first started out. They want to support a team that appreciates their support.”
And so the community has found its high-speed soul mate. The team has found its support and patronage.
Furniture Row Racing and its star driver Martin Truex Jr. have not only won over even NASCAR’s most hardcore longtime fans with their success, they also have converted a major area of the country into diehard race fans and earned the distinction of Denver’s “hometown favorites.”
In a sport where the majority of teams hail from one region in the Southeast, Furniture Row Racing has been the kind of westward expansion that’s earned new hearts and broadened the sport’s reach.
While the team has been building its base in Denver for a decade, its current driver certainly has made the organization an easy option for local fans. That’s especially true this season as the team has celebrated a coming of age.
Truex dominated NASCAR’s longest race, the Coca-Cola 600 in May, just collected a win in the historic Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend. AND — all capital letters here — Truex came a split-second short of bringing a Daytona 500 trophy back to Denver in the famous season-opener. His runner-up finish to Denny Hamlin by 0.010 seconds marked the closest margin of victory in the history of the sport’s most celebrated race.
Visser was born, raised and for decades has thrived as a businessman in Denver. He has seven children (one has passed away) and seven grandchildren, and they are all here, too. Always, he has been firm that this locale was the only option where his team would operate, no matter the challenges.
“Our business is based here,” Visser explained. “I wouldn’t even think about doing it out East in North Carolina. Yes, there are transportation logistics and occasionally hiring is a little more difficult, but we don’t have to hire nearly as often because the guys just don’t want to leave. We try to provide a real good work atmosphere.
“No jerks,” he said smiling and explaining his team philosophy. “And it’s worked out very well for us.”
Arakawa smiles broadly when she thinks of what this team has meant to the area. She frequently stops by the shop on Denver’s industrial West side just to catch up over a cup of coffee and share the vibe.
“I like to go visit the shop just to breathe in the rubber and the oil,” she joked. “It’s David and Goliath in the sport, but with their kind of attitude, that’s why people even outside Colorado pull for this team. You see it everywhere.
“That pioneering spirit is what Barney embodies. And that’s a testament to anyone who has been a trailblazer. That is a cliché, but I don’t think he’d mind. He did it because of his passion to be here. And then, look at the opportunities he has given this state. Look at what he’s accomplished.”
The former mayor of nearby Englewood, Colorado, Randy Penn, lunches with Visser at least once a month. One cannot mistake the enthusiasm in his voice as he proudly talks about the Furniture Row team.
“It’s a city that, no matter what, supports winners,” said Penn, who is now the executive director of the city’s Chamber of Commerce. “I walk into a room of important business people and they’re talking about an article in the newspaper about the team and say, ‘Did you know we’re NASCAR fans too?’ And they start telling me about visiting other tracks.
“For us to have this team here is just a great privilege and for the Denver metro area, it’s another awakening.”
The support extends to the area’s hometown NFL favorite Denver Broncos, where safety TJ Ward — who happens to wear Richard Petty’s iconic No. 43 on his jersey — can be counted as a big fan of the city’s race team.
Furniture Row invited Ward to visit during the race at Auto Club Speedway earlier this year. He hung out with the team in the garage, in the pits and took a pace car ride at speed.
“First of all, it’s louder than any football game,” a smiling Ward said, recalling his time at the race track. “And I think it’s great as much as Denver is expanding to have another sport based here. And the more people learn about NASCAR, the more interest there is.”
For Furniture Row, the feeling of adoration is mutual. The team flies the Colorado state flag on its pit box every race. And as the 10-race postseason begins, this team will benefit not only from the goodwill of most fans, but the rabid support of an entire region that now considers the team their own.
“There’s a certain pride that’s there absolutely,” said Furniture Row Racing General Manager Joe Garone, who is a Colorado native. “We’re an oddity, we know, so a lot of times when you do run into a race fan, it’s the first thing they say, ‘Oh you’re the guys from Colorado. I can’t believe you’re able to do this.’ And it’s great.
“That makes a lot of the guys working so hard to get it done feel a sense a pride. That’s a sense of pride another team that’s working in North Carolina won’t get. It’s like the Wood Brothers who work out of Stuart, Virginia. They’re running their team all these years up there, outside of that bubble.
“But this is that on steroids.”
And it’s well-appreciated.
“I won’t even tell you who I was rooting for until Barney started this team,” Penn said with a laugh. “But I can tell you that’s the only car I root for now. All of a sudden you have this connection, and there’s nobody else we root for more.”