The weather for this year's Coca-Cola 600 changed almost lap by lap. A heavy overcast sky bathed Lowe's Motor Speedway in shade at the beginning of the race. When the sun came out, the track temperatures soared. Eventually, it rained. Bill Elliott's Dodge crew chased the changing conditions constantly with spring rubbers and tire pressures. Much of the responsibility fell to Ramon Zambrano, a 22-year-old rookie team member and a success story for Dodge's efforts to bring more ethnic diversity to NASCAR.
While NASCAR Craftsman Truck series driver Bill Lester is the most recognizable minority in NASCAR, he is part of an emerging cadre working in the garage area. They are mechanics, team specialists, trainers, and officials, all part of the changing face of auto racing. NASCAR hopes the change will begin behind the wall and behind the wheel, and extend to mainstream America. The movement toward a more diverse fan base is especially critical in the large urban markets where NASCAR hopes to expand by shifting race venues from smaller communities to larger cities.
Image MakeoverNASCAR created a diversity committee in 2000 and hired Dora Taylor to head the effort. She was chosen after turning around the image of the Denny's restaurant chain, which at one time had the industry's worst record on minority hiring and discrimination. In four years, after her team's efforts, it was cited as the best company in America for minorities to work. Simply put, Taylor is to help make the sport better reflect the nation's ethnic makeup.
Some of NASCAR's concern is to soften the image of the sport. Critics of stock car racing contend that because there are few minorities involved in racing, the sport must be racist and minority fans are unwelcome. "Let's face the facts," Taylor says. "There is no mystery about where the sport began. It had its origins in the South. I hope that today, at the end of the day, the only thing important about the fan sitting next to you is that your favorite driver did better than his."
As the tide shifts, NASCAR recognizes that the nation's sizeable minority population-especially African-Americans-represent an untapped fan base that can help fill seats, bump up television ratings, and attract a broader base of sponsorship to the series and its teams. The effort makes good economic sense. African-Americans and the rapidly expanding Hispanic/Latino community make up about 20 percent of the nation's population, with an economic growth rate that exceeds that of most others.
It has been the combination of economics and society that has prevented motorsports from being a big draw for minorities. Until the past two generations, most African-American and Hispanic families have had little disposable income to invest in race cars. The lack of minority drivers in local racing series means there has been only a tiny pool of talent to draw from for racing's premier series. Few minority drivers draw few minority fans.
Growing Drivers"Sure, I'd like to get a black driver in one of my cars," says Leon Harrison, a Tucson businessman who sponsors cars at Tucson Raceway Park's Weekly Racing Series. "The problem is there aren't any, and I don't have any idea where to find one."
Harrison, 40, an African-American, runs Design in Mind, a floor-covering business that employs about 40 people and does about $2 million in business a year. "I got involved in racing because I'm a car enthusiast and I know that putting the name of my business on the side of a car is good advertising," he says. "The racing fan base is loyal." But Harrison says he wouldn't put a minority driver in a car unless he was convinced he could get the job done on the track. "I've got $30,000 invested in a car," he says. "The guy I put in it is going to have to do well and bring it back in one piece. And that's the issue. I look around at the track and I don't see any black drivers. There just isn't anyone to even consider."