Pressley, like his dad, seeking racing wins

OXFORD – Coleman Pressley, 2 1/2-years-old, sat on the floor of his father’s 18-wheel trailer on Sunday playing with the Match Box stock cars.

Surrounding the outside of the trailer were the real-life versions of Coleman’s play things, his father’s – Robert Pressley – No. 59 Oldsmobile included.

Robert Pressley of Asheville, N.C., made his second Oxford 250 appearance here Sunday, finishing 40th. It comes 13 years after his father, Bob Pressley, won this prestigious race in 1978.

Needless to say, Robert Pressley, 30, is hoping for a case of “like father, life son.”

“Hopefully, it’ll happen tonight,” Pressley said before the race, watching over his son, Coleman.

Pressley got the 1991 Oxford 250 off to a positive start when he qualified fourth in time trials. He spent most of the day Sunday talking with the press and watching over his son while other drivers went through qualifying races.

Pressley’s road to the NASCAR Grand National circuit did not come the way most race fans would imagine.

Yes, his father was a fairly successful racer up and down the East Coast. Yet, he was always on the road driving from race to race from Canada to Florida and back again. It was not a life that Pressley longed for.

“I lost interest in it at a young age,” Pressley said. “There was just too much traveling and Dad was always on the road. That’s all he did from 1977 to 1980 was race up here (in the Northeast). It wasn’t something I was too impressed with.”

When the elder Pressley won the Oxford 250 in ’78, his son was in Asheville.

“We listened to it,” Pressley recalled. “I was 17 at the time. I had just graduated high school and was driving a delivery truck for Coca-Cola. I wasn’t all that interested in it.”

When Pressley hit the age of 22, things changed.

“He (his father) started coming back home and racing at some local tracks,” Pressley explained. “I started racing with him when I turned 23 and in 1989 I joined the Busch tour.”

Pressley had success early (he won a race 14 events into his rookie season) but didn’t win again until June 8 of this season at Rougemont, N.C.

“It’s kept us going,” Pressley said.

Entering the 250, Pressley was sixth in Grand National points with 2,106 just 75 points out of fourth. Bobby Labonte of Corpus Christi, Texas, is the points leader with 2,403.

While Bob Pressley still races locally in the Asheville area, Robert Pressley’s future currently remains with the Grand National tour.

“I’m sure we’ll do it a few more years,” he said. “If we do move up, we’ll probably do it then.”

Coleman Pressley drops his cars and climbs up into his father’s lap.

“Do you think Coleman may ever make it like grandfather, like father, like son?,” Pressley is asked.

“Who knows,” he laughs. “Already he says he wants to drive.”