Barney Visser

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Barney Visser
Born 1949 (age 74–75)
Nationality American
Occupation Furniture Row co-owner
Furniture Row Racing owner

Barney Visser (born 1949) is an entrepreneur and author. He is the co-owner of Furniture Row and Visser Precision, as well as the racing team Furniture Row Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.[1] Furniture Row Racing, based in Denver, Colorado is one of a few Sprint Cup teams not based in North Carolina.[1]

Personal life

After attending Denver Christian High School for three years, Visser graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Denver.[1][2] He volunteered in the Vietnam War for 21 months after high school, and he served as a paratrooper for 11 months in the 173rd Airborne Brigade between July 1968 and June 1969.[3] Visser and his wife Carolyn have seven children.[3] Visser enrolled at the University of Northern Colorado in the fall of 1969 or 1970, playing one season Division II football. He dropped out during the spring semester after losing his GI scholarship.[2][4][5]

Furniture

Visser began his business manufacturing big poof pillows in the 1970s.[1][2] He owned eight stores called Pillow Kingdom in 1977, when he decided to start his first waterbed store called Big Sur Waterbeds.[1][2] That company was so successful that he changed the whole company into waterbed stores.[1] He estimates that the company held 85 stores in the mid-1980s.[1] The Furniture Row company operates 330 stores in 31 states under the Denver Mattress, Sofa Mart, Oak Express and Bedroom Expressions names.[1][6]

Racing

Visser decided to retire from his businesses, and began racing at Colorado National Speedway as a hobby.[1][2] He met local modified driver Jerry Robertson, and the two decided to form a NASCAR Busch Series (now Xfinity Series) team in 2004.[1][7]

Visser's NASCAR team began running in 2005,[1][2] currently running in the top-tier Sprint Cup Series after 19 races with Robertson driving his Busch Series car.[8] Joe Nemechek earned the team's first pole position at the spring Talladega Superspeedway race in 2008.[8] Regan Smith scored the team's first win at the 2011 Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.[2] Kurt Busch earned the team's first berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2012.[6]

Media

He is the co-author of the book Vietnam: Fresh, Positive Insights for all who Suffered Loss in the Vietnam War (ISBN 978-0966404999) in November 2000.[3]

Visser was the executive producer for the movie Uncle Nino.[9]

References

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External links