Toyota Pro/Celebrity

Biography

With an Olympic gold medal from the 2000 Sydney Games, 35 U.S. National Championship wins, three World Cycling championships and four Pan American Games gold medals, Nothstein knows what it takes to win a race. He retired from cycling in 2006 after winning almost every major race and award in the sport, then went on to begin a new career in speed as a National Hot Rod Association drag race driver.

Accelerating into his racing profession, Nothstein has already racked up three victories in eight final-round appearances and is planning to make his NHRA Nitro Funny Car debut this summer.

As a second-time Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race participant, Nothstein is a feared competitor because of his finely tuned driving skills and stunningly quick reaction times—and for the same reasons is so successful in the world of professional drag racing. Nothstein has developed one of the quickest average reaction times in his class having won five races on hole shots.

Off the tracks, Nothstein has emerged as one of the most likable and headline-drawing race athletes, a quality that has gained his sponsors mentions in leading publications and media outlets including The New York Times, USA Today, Men’s Health, The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Los Angeles Times and ESPN.

Highlights:

• Lives with his wife and two children in eastern Pennsylvania, where he is an active hunter and fisherman


• Won not only a gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 but also a silver at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996


• Broke world champion Frank Manzo’s 47-round hole-shot winning streak last season