Kevin Buckler (born c. 1959) is an American race car driver and entrepreneur. He founded Adobe Road Winery and currently owns
The Racer's Group
The Racer's Group, or TRG, is a WeatherTech SportsCar Championship racing team located in Petaluma, California, owned by Kevin Buckler and his wife Debra. TRG has competed professionally in road racing since 1995. The team formerly competed in NA ...
, a professional sports car racing team; TRG Motorsports, formerly a
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
Sprint Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...
team; and TRG-AMR. In 2019, Kevin launched a $56 racing-themed wine aptly named SHIFT. It comes from Adobe Road, a boutique winery in
Sonoma County
Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...
California.
History
Buckler began racing at the local level in the late 1980s. He attended his first high-speed race in 1990.
In 1992, Kevin and his wife Debra created The Racer's Group (TRG) as a Porsche Club Racing business that has grown into much more. 1995 saw Buckler take his first start as a professional driver. He would go on to win that race, beginning a notable career in professional motorsports. Off the track the same year, Kevin and his wife, along with friends, opened Adobe Road Winery in Sonoma County California. In 2002, TRG with support from Porsche Factory, won the GT class at the Rolex 24 at Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Buckler would lead TRG to 3 more GT class wins in the Rolex 24 at Daytona, including an overall 1st place in 2003. TRG holds the record for the team with the most Rolex Sports Car Series GT victories at 29, and is ranked third for the most GT pole positions with 15. In 2009, Buckler would expand his racing horizons into NASCAR with the formation of TRG Motorsports. TRG Motorsports would go on to take 106 starts in the Sprint Cup Series with 2 top 10 finishes and 6 starts in the Camping World Truck Series, taking 6 starts with 2 top 10 finishes and 1 top 5 finish. In 2012 TRG Motorsports announced it would not continue competing in NASCAR, but would focus on Grand-Am. As Buckler and TRG continued to make a name for their selves on the track, Kevin and Adobe Road Winery established themselves as a boutique national brand. Adobe Road wines have collected many awards, and has 15 wines receiving Wine Spectator scores of 90 and above including the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley, Beckstoffer Georges III which received a score of 94 out of 100.
24 Hours of Le Mans results
See also
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List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards
The trend of celebrities owning wineries and vineyards is not a recent phenomenon, though it has certainly garnered more attention in today's Information Age. In ancient Greek and Roman times, the leading philosophers, playwrights, politicians a ...
References
External links
The Racer's Group Home PageTRG Motorsports Home PageAdobe Road WineryKevin Buckler NASCAR Owner Statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckler, Kevin
NASCAR team owners
Racing drivers from California
24 Hours of Le Mans drivers
Rolex Sports Car Series drivers
24 Hours of Daytona drivers
Living people
Year of birth uncertain