Tom Hammonds  Owner / Driver  Racing for 24 years  Entered NHRA Circuit in 1996    Personal  Height / Weight: 6'9" & 240 lbs.  Date Of Birth: March 27, 1967  Hometown & Current Residence: Crestview, Fla.  Hobbies: Dirt bike riding; Fishing

Retired from the NBA after 12 years in the league, Tom Hammonds has moved on to compete as a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Pro Stock Car driver.  He always raced cars during the NBA season, but once he retired in 2001, he decided to race full time, thus starting a new professional sports career.

In Sept. 2006, at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, Hammonds announced his return to the sport with an ambitious target date for his first race, the 2007 CarQuest NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, Calif. After struggling during the test-and-tune session at February's Pontiac Pro Stock Showdown in Las Vegas and some serious sole searching, the team postponed the on-track team debut for two events and entered the ACDelco Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla. in March.

Hammonds made a triumphant return to full-time drag racing at the Gatornationals Gainesville Raceway in March 2007, qualifying his Chevy Cobalt 15th to advance to elimination Sunday, but lost in the first round. For the 2007 season, he finished competition in 18th place (456 points), recording 23 round wins, making it to nine elimination Sunday first rounds and one semi-final round.

Racing since the age of 16, he has won 15 Muscle Car Association Outlaw events. He entered the NHRA circuit in 1996 at the Mile-High Nationals in Denver, while qualifying for his first 16-car field at Reading, Pa. in September 1997. ¬ÝSince turning pro Hammonds has raced in a total of 89 races, recording a career-best elapsed time of 6.631 seconds (Gainesville, Fla. 2007) and a career-best speed of 209.64 mph (Gainesville, Fla. 2007). Out of 100 races, he has made an appearance in 21 first round eliminations, 11 quarter finals, and three semi-finals, and three finals to finish the runner-up to date.

Headquartered in Holt, Fla. and backed by General Motors (GM), Hammonds is the only African American owner-driven race team in the United States. Before taking on team ownership, he completed the GM Minority Dealer Development Program and opened a Chevrolet dealership in Darlington, S.C. in May 2004. In December 2005, he decided to sell the dealership to concentrate on drag racing full time.

Hammonds started his professional basketball career as the ninth overall pick by the Washington (Bullets) Wizards in the 1989 NBA draft. In addition to Washington, Hammonds enjoyed his career playing for the Denver Nuggets, Charlotte (Hornets) Bobcats, Minnesota Timberwolves, where he completed his career. He made 21 NBA playoff appearances and notched his 3,000th career point and 2,000th rebound during his 1997-98 season. The power forward finished his NBA career averaging 5.3 ppg and 3.3 rpg.

In his illustrious college basketball career at Georgia Tech, Hammonds played in 123 games

where he averages 16.9 ppg, 7.2 rpg, and 1.4 apg. In his senior year he averaged 20.9 ppg

(627 points), 8.1 rpg (242 rebounds), and 1.7 apg (51 assists). Hammonds finished his

college career the fifth leading scorer (2081 points, 16.9 ppg) and fourth in leading

rebounder (885 rebounds, 7.2 rpg) in the school’Äôs history resulting in his number

20 jersey being retired on March 1, 1989. Nicknamed ’ÄúThe Terminator,’Äù he was

named All-ACC first team in 1988 and 1989 and second team in 1987. In 1989,

he was named to the third-team All-America. Georgia Tech inducted him into

the Hall of Fame in 1996. Hammonds graduated with a Bachelors of Science

degree in business management.

Hammonds, a Crestview, Fla. native, was inducted into the All Sports

Association Hall of Fame of Fort Walton Beach, Fla. in March 2007.