WWE's Forgotten Crossover That Cost A Fortune (& Vince Allegedly Kept A Relic)

WWE has a long history with racing, dating back to the 1990s when WCW had a regular presence in NASCAR and drivers would appear on "Monday Nitro." Various stars from WWE have served as grand marshals and honorary race directors for NASCAR races, including Hulk Hogan, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, and Charlotte Flair. There is however, one forgotten crossover between WWE and the racing world that fans may not even be aware of, and Vince McMahon still allegedly owns a relic.

In the late 1990s into the early 2000s, the then-WWF partnered with Toliver Racing, penning a unique National Hot Rod Association Funny Car deal that saw the creation of the WWF Racing Attitude Team, headed by Jerry Toliver and Jim Epler, but sponsored by the professional wrestling company. The team drove nitro-fueled drag racing cars inspired by "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Undertaker. In March 2000, it was announced that the team would be adding two new cars inspired by The Rock and Kane, featuring the wrestlers' logos. The vehicles were officially revealed at WWF Fan Axxess ahead of WrestleMania that year.

The Toliver drag racing cars were popular and the drivers themselves were very successful on the track. The team even had a merchandise deal alongside the WWF, which saw the creation of die-cast cars that can still be found in online auctions today.

According to The Sportster, McMahon didn't want to part with one of the drag racing vehicles from the partnership. The chairman reportedly kept the car featuring The Rock's logo, though the engine, seats, and brakes have been removed. McMahon and WWE wanted to keep the shell of the vehicle, which is currently in a WWE warehouse. While the drag racing endeavor was successful, there was another turn-of-the-millennium deal involving The Rock that fell through. 

In yet another tale that's often told through Reddit threads, as many long-forgotten memories of WCW and the then-WWF are, there was another 2000 racing crossover initially planned, this one involving WWE and NASCAR, though it never got McMahon's blessing. The concept is known to many as "Rock Racing," and, according to WrestleZone, the crossover would have seen WWF superstar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, alongside Hermie Sadler, a driver, broadcaster and businessman, own a NASCAR team together in the late 1990s, early 2000s.

Sadler explained the idea on an episode of his "Leaning Right and Turning Left" podcast. He said [H/T @DominicDeAngelo] that he became friends with Rock after he loaned him Cadillacs from his car dealership for commercials and other promotional work. He said he and his wife would stay with Rock in his South Florida home and Johnson followed his racing career. Sadler said the pair started to talk about how cool it would be to own a NASCAR team together.

He explained he put the deal together that would involve him racing, and they would use Rock's name and likeness. The driver explained he even had investors and merchandise opportunities already put together. He was going to purchase Joe Bessey Motorsports and their race team to make it all happen.

The deal was coming together, though The Rock had only signed a letter of intent, according to Sadler, through 2000. A press conference was scheduled that December across from Charlotte Motor Speedway, then Sadler's communication with The Rock came to a halt.

Sadler said on his podcast that after he bought the race team and hired a crew chief, in addition to lining up investors and merchandise deals, he stopped hearing from Johnson for a few days, after they had been in communication daily. He explained that after a few days of not hearing from the WWF star, he received a cease and desist letter telling him that his partnership with "Rocky" was done, and they were no longer to be in communication with one another.

He went on to explained around a month later, when WWE was in his city, he met with McMahon, without an attorney present, in hopes to foster a business partnership to save the livelihoods of people he had already hired. He said McMahon told him he'd get back to him, but in the end, it wasn't McMahon's idea and he wasn't sure how he would profit from it since he wasn't in charge, and the deal fell through.  Sadler never heard back about it, and it was also revealed to him that The Rock didn't own the rights to his trademarks.

In the end, Sadler said he was out close to a million dollars, and The Rock has not spoken to him since. Sadler said he never received a proper explanation from him.