EthnicMajority

(Los Angeles Times) The black NASCAR truck with a white "54" on the side gleamed on pit road as its driver walked up for the night's race, prompting three dozen photographers and well-wishers to edge closer.

The attraction was 19-year-old Darrell Wallace Jr. As Wallace posed for the cameras at Daytona International Speedway, the public address announcer called out his name and added: "That's a driver many people are waiting to see."

Indeed they are — especially the executives who run NASCAR — because Wallace is an African American.

Despite NASCAR's growth into one of the nation's most popular sports and a driver-diversity effort now in its 10th year, stock-car racing lacks a full-time black driver at its top levels. No African American drives in NASCAR's premier Sprint Cup racing series — where such stars as Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon compete — and there isn't a full-time black driver in its second-highest level, the Nationwide Series.

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(Examiner.com) NASCAR has suspended Jeremy Clements for a racial slur. The racial slur from Clements was allegedly uttered during an interview at Daytona International Speedway back on Feb. 23. According to a report from ESPN early Thursday (Feb. 28), Clements has been suspended from the Nationwide Series indefinitely.

Officials from NASCAR haven't specifically stated what his remarks were and have not verified earlier reports on the topic. What they did state was that Clements used an intolerable and insensitive remark that led to this suspension.

Clements issued a statement of his own, but it might not be good enough to save this from being a public relations nightmare for his team and sponsors. Clements reportedly stated, "I will not get into specifics of what I said, but my comment to the writer was in no way meant to be disrespectful or insensitive to anyone or to be detrimental to NASCAR or the NASCAR Nationwide Series. I will do what I need to do in order to atone for my error in judgment."

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(Examiner.com) Latinos are a sought-after segment of the American population, and organizations likeNASCAR are trying to court them in any way possible. In a Feb. 21 report on Fox News Latino, an upcoming race was announced at the Phoenix International Raceway that will feature over two dozen Mexican NASCAR drivers.

On March 1, the Arizona speedway will host the historic 75-lap event that is part of an agreement with Fox Deportes, and it will be broadcast in Spanish for the enjoyment of Hispanic viewers. This race represents NASCAR’s efforts to increase their presence in the Latino market; right now only 10 percent of NASCAR’s audience is Latino.

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(SpeedTV) Two of the biggest brands in all of sports, NASCAR and FOX Deportes, announced today they are teaming up to provide the sport’s most expansive Spanish-language broadcast offering ever with coverage of 15 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races as well as original programming, daily news segments and weekly updates starting in 2013. 

Of the 15 race broadcasts, FOX Deportes, the No. 1 U.S. Latino Sports network, will carry live six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races, including, for the first time ever, a Spanish-language broadcast of NASCAR’s biggest race, the Daytona 500 (Sunday, Feb. 24).

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(FoxNews) Viva La Raza Racing laid claim to a major first — before its drivers even took to the track. The Mexican-owned professional auto racing team is the first Hispanic team in the history of NASCAR.

Owned by Mexican-based racing company Promo Race, the Viva La Raza Racing team is located in the Mooresville/Charlotte area in North Carolina, or “the heart of NASCAR,” as Promo Race director Oscar Sánchez refers to it.

Through Promo Racing, Sánchez and his partners were involved with NASCAR Mexico, but their dream was to have a team competing in the United States. This past February, that goal become a reality when they purchased the team that became Viva La Raza Racing.

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(MultiCultClassics) Earlier this month, Target Market News reported NASCAR is seeking an advertising agency to help it reach minority audiences. There is no plan, however, to engage minority shops for the push. In fact, a NASCAR marketing official stated, “In a perfect world, we’re looking for a full-service agency to do it all.” Newly-hired NASCAR Director of Brand and Consumer Marketing Kim Brink is a 20-year veteran of General Motors, another corporate entity that has made questionable decisions regarding the choice of White agencies to handle multicultural duties. In 2007, NASCAR CEO Brian France declared, “If we don’t get diversity right, this sport will not achieve what it needs to achieve from a popularity standpoint.” Maybe Drive For Diversityshould be renamed Jive For Diversity.

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(Orlando Sentinel) Wendell Scott broke NASCAR’s color barrier with a 1963 victory — the only race won ever by an African-American driver.

Nearly 50 years later, no other black or Hispanic driver has repeated the feat, but young drivers enrolled in NASCAR’s diversity program are vying to do so.

“You win races and then hopefully, you can catch that break with the right sponsor to help you get to the next level,” said driver Ryan Gifford, 21, of Winchester, Tenn. “It’s just a matter of time and timing.”

Gifford is among the 10 African-American, Hispanic or female drivers with Revolution Racing, a North Carolina racing team that is part of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program.

NASCAR officials started Drive for Diversity programs eight years ago to develop promising drivers.

Talent from other racing series, such as Danica Patrick, who juggles her time between Indy Car and stock-car races, and Colombian-born Juan Pablo Montoya, who drove in Formula1, have crossed over.

Bringing new drivers up the ranks has been the bigger challenge.

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(New York Times) A few clicks on the Web site of Black Entertainment Television leads viewers to a short Nascar tutorial filled with information about popular drivers, racetracks and salaries.

It may seem odd to find a sport so closely tied to white Southern men featured on a Web site devoted to African-American entertainment, but it represents Nascar’s latest attempt to build a following for minority drivers it hopes to develop into stars.

Nascar is behind a new reality television series on BET, “Changing Lanes,” that will make its debut at 8 on Wednesday night. A field of 30 minority drivers will be narrowed to 10, who will live together for a month as they compete on the track and prepare in the classroom for the chance to race in a high-profile event and ultimately succeed in Nascar.

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Sports and politics. They don’t mix; never have, never will. You think fans fight over Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s talent or Yankees vs. Red Sox? That’s nothing compared to, say, an Obama-vs.-Tea Party throwdown. We turn to sports to get away from the problems of the real world, not vent about them.

So woe to the sports figures who do air their political beliefs, as Fox Sports’ Chris Myers has learned, because no matter what you say, half the country’s going to disagree with you. Myers, one of Fox’s NASCAR announcers, was filling in for Dan Patrick on his radio show earlier this week when the discussion turned to the flood disaster in Nashville.

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