His boss, team director Mike Ford, thinks he has the potential to do so. "I knew when I first talked to him that he showed signs of being a hard worker," Ford says. "One of the things that most impressed me was his strong work ethic. He's the kind of guy that when the workload increases, he increases his intensity. I could tell he had the ambition. Sometimes in this sport you get guys who come in here and they feel like they have the answers for you, and he wasn't like that. I've brought Ramon with us on the road, and that's the next step to assuming more responsibility. A lot of guys fold with the pressure, but he hasn't. I see great things in his future."
Social ResponsibilityDodge offers scholarships for six distinct minority groups: American Indians, Alaskan natives, African-Americans, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, Asians, and Hispanic/Latinos. The program goes beyond drivers and the crew. A third goal is to increase the number of minority-owned companies that supply parts or services to a team. "It doesn't even have to be a racing-related item," Wildberger says. "We look at things like minority-owned accounting firms and other nonracing businesses as meeting the goal."
Wildberger says Chrysler Corp. doesn't insist a team have an aggressive diversity program. "But we do watch them," he says. "We track what they do and what kind of success they have. It is something that to us is very important. We have invested millions in the program. We want it to be successful. But for us it is more than money. It's not only a financial issue, it is a social issue."
Wildberger says the greatest measure of success will be to see the scholarship grads move up to jobs with more authority and to see minority drivers get rides funded by businesses who see their potential as drivers and spokesmen for their products. "Hopefully," he says, "they will still be in a Dodge."
NASCAR's Taylor hopes they'll soon no longer be so rare that people consider them a minority.
10 Questions with NASCAR's Dora TaylorDora Taylor was hired nearly two years ago as Senior Manager of Diversity Affairs for NASCAR. Before coming to NASCAR, she was Director of Diversity Affairs for the Denny's restaurant chain, and was part of the team that in four years turned the group from one that was accused of racial discrimination into the nation's best company for minorities. Her job at NASCAR is to lead it in efforts to diversify stock car racing from short tracks to Winston Cup. SCR discussed the sanctioning body's program and challenges.
SCR: What are NASCAR's priorities in its diversity program?
Taylor: The simple answer is to get more diversity throughout the industry. That doesn't mean just drivers. There are a lot of other opportunities to diversify the sport in areas like track management, mechanics, engineering, and public relations. We want to bring the best and brightest to the sport.
SCR: What are the greatest challenges?
Taylor: The organization. At Denny's, if you wanted to implement something, you met with the CEO and the managers and they made it happen. NASCAR isn't like an industry where you can simply propose a change to the chairman of the board and he can make it happen. NASCAR is so scattered, with so many tracks and different operators and different rules and everyone running their own businesses. It's difficult to get everyone to share the same vision. NASCAR isn't one-stop shopping.
SCR: How much of the new diversity initiative is driven by social conscience and how much by the desire to attract new fans?
Taylor: Naturally, we want to enter new markets, and we know that by being more diverse the sport will be attractive to more fans. But we also know that this is simply the right thing to do.
SCR: What is being done to attract new fans?