Southern rednecks. Bootleggers from Dixie. Good old boys who grew up with grease on their hands and Daytona in their dreams.

And then along comes Brendan Gaughan and kicks that stereotype straight through the uprights of reality.

Gaughan (pronounced Gone) is a 26-year-old Las Vegas native who will be behind the wheel of the NAPA/Orleans Racing Dodge Sunday when the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series makes a stop at Gateway International Raceway, just north of St. Louis in Madison.

Oh, sure, he drives like a good old boy -- fearless, white-knuckle fast and hollering "Yahoo!" whenever the metal of one vehicle grinds against the metal of another.

But every preconception falls apart when you realize he lists former Georgetown University basketball coach John Thompson -- a towering black man -- as one of the two most influential people in his life.

And when you realize he came to Georgetown as a place kicker for the school's football team.

And when you realize he was a walkon on Thompson's national powerhouse basketball team and whose primary assignment in practice was to beat the heckout of tough guy guard Allen Iverson.

And when you realize his family has been involved in the gaming industry in Las Vegas and elsewhere for more than 50 years, which afforded him the chance to work in his dad's casino doing every job from scrubbing the bathrooms to dealing blackjack.

So with that as his background, how in the name of Junior Johnson did he ever find his way behind the wheel of a pickup truck that on Sunday will hit 160 miles an hour?

Well, it turns out Gaughan has been racing since he was 15. Mostly in the buggies and trucks that bounce wildly through the desert, but quickly moving up to stock cars while winning the 2000 and 2001 NASCAR Winston West championships.

He'd never raced on an asphalt oval until the final race of the truck series in 1997 when he first had to get special permission from NASCAR to compete, then qualified a surprising 19th and had darted through traffic on race day until he had passed NASCAR legend Bill Elliott to move into ninth place.

"I got on the radio and screamed, "I passed Bill Elliott! I passed Bill Elliott!," he recalled. "I was out of turn two when they said, 'Relax. Slow down. Slow down.'

"And I went into turn four and, Pow! Right into the wall. I guess I was a little too excited."

What will really excite Gaughan is if he wins the Raybestos Rookie of the Year award. And after three races, he leads in the points standings heading into Sunday's race.

His ultimate goal? "Everyone wants a car owner to tap you on the shoulder and ask you to come drive their Winston Cup car," he said. "The trick is, can you get someone to tap you."

Gaughan will have plenty of competition Sunday, including Terry Cook of Pittsboro, Ind., and Larry Gunselman of Belfair, Wash., both of whom were in Springfield Wednesday to help promote the race (Sunday, 3 p.m., ESPN).

So pick your favorite truck driver and hang on tight.

But don't overlook the guy who used to pick on Allen Iverson just for fun.