Minority Drivers Impress At Busch East Opener In S.C.
By Rick Houston, Special to NASCAR.COM

 

EASLEY, S.C. -- For thousands of aspiring racers across the country, it all starts at a track just like this one.
 

There's nothing fancy about Greenville-Pickens Speedway. Instead of thousands of grandstands on the backstretch, there's a long embankment of reddish-brown dirt. Behind that, there's a gas station, a house, a trailer park and a supply store for said mobile homes. There are only a couple of fixed structures in the infield. The frontstretch seating area is concrete, nothing more nothing less. In every way imaginable, Greenville-Pickens is old school.
 

There's a new era dawning, however. For all its grassroots charm, Greenville-Pickens saw a handful of minority drivers continue their march toward the heights of NASCAR on Saturday night, whether they were participants in the sanctioning body's Drive for Diversity or not. Only one -- Jesus Hernandez -- of at least seven minorities in the field for the Greased Lightning 150 NASCAR Busch East opener was officially part of the program.
 

Jonathan Smith is also a Drive for Diversity competitor, but failed to qualify for the event.
 

Rogelio Lopez of Mexico City ran fifth and was the highest-finishing minority in the race won by Joe Gibbs Racing phenom Joey Logano. Next was Michelle Theriault in eighth, Jesus Hernandez 11th, Marc Davis 12th, Chase Austin 19th German Quiroga Jr. 21st and Ruben Pardo 30th in the 30-car field.
 

An eighth driver, Max Dumarey of Gent, Belgium, finished 25th after being involved in an early accident. Another foreign-born driver, Pierre Bourque from Ontario, Canada, did not make the starting grid.
 

"We came here for a test two weeks ago," said Lopez, who has two Busch Series starts to his credit, both of which came in Mexico City. "I think we did a pretty good job today. We were pretty smooth at the beginning. The tires started going away at the end of the race. We got a good top five today."
 

Across the board, none of the minority drivers at Greenville-Pickens seemed to want any special treatment.
 

"I'm here for racing," Lopez said. "I'm not part of [NASCAR's] diversity program. But I know I'm pretty proud to be part of the NASCAR family. I'm just another driver."
 

Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR's managing director of public affairs who oversees the diversity program, says having minority drivers not affiliated with Drive for Diversity at the track is a sure sign that it's actually working.

"We believe that there are multiple points of entry into NASCAR for drivers of all backgrounds," Jadotte said. "That's our goal. We want to make sure that there are multiple points of entry for drivers. The fact that we have a female driver who's not part of the Drive for Diversity program is confirmation that our efforts are working and that these teams are looking for talent wherever they can find it."

Theriault, like Davis, can't wait for the word "diversity" not to be an every-day part of her vocabulary. She's a driver. End of discussion.
 

"If I could get by without someone asking me what it's like to be a female in racing, I'd celebrate," Theriault said. "But there's not too many of those days. It's one of those things [where] I'm proud that I'm a woman in this sport and I'm doing well. If someone wants to ask how it is, I'm proud of telling them that I think I deserve to be here just like anyone else. If I could open up more doors for more females and get more people of ethnicities into this sport, I think it's a great thing."

So what will it take for her not to be asked about being a female in the world of NASCAR?

 

"I don't know if that'll ever happen," Theriault admitted. "You look at Danica Patrick, and the same questions are asked of her. She's a proven success. I just think it's one of those things that until we have regular females, where we have three, four, five females in this sport, it'll stay like this."
 

Hernandez is beginning his third year of the Drive for Diversity program, all of which have been spent with the operation now known as Ginn Racing. He may be part of a new initiative, but Hernandez has paid his dues as much as any driver in the sport. He's raced for a decade, and won track championships at Madera Speedway in 1998 and 1999.

Last year, Hernandez scored two wins, three poles and seven top-10 finishes in 10 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Late Model starts at Hickory Motor Speedway in North Carolina. He'll run an eclectic schedule in 2007, with starts in the Craftsman Truck Series, Busch East, Grand National West, Late Model and ARCA divisions.
 

He's a racer, first and foremost, who just so happens to be Hispanic.
 

"[The Drive for Diversity program] has allowed me the opportunity to gain access to resources and network with people that, in California, I would've never dreamed of," Hernandez said. "At the end of the day, I am who I am and my background is what it is. I don't think [the issue of his ethnicity] will ever go away. I think it'll always be something that'll be brought up, just because of the transition that we're making into the sport right now."
 

Davis is 16 and a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. At Phoenix a couple of weeks ago, he finished second to teammate and fellow teenager Joey Logano in a Grand National West event. That's what he says stuck with people, not the fact that he's African-American.
 

"If anything, it's that veterans don't want to get beat by a rookie," said Davis, who has a six-year development deal with Gibbs. "It doesn't matter who [the rookies] are. We went out to Phoenix and two 16-year-olds finished 1-2. [The perception wasn't] that a white kid won and black kid finished second. It was just two 16-year-olds."
 

The plan calls for Davis to run two years of Busch East competition, until he turns 18 in June 2008. Then it'll be on to the Busch Series, with an option for Nextel Cup after that. He is looking forward to the day when he's just a driver, when he doesn't have to answer questions about diversity in the sport.
 

Put it another way. He's looking forward to the day when an African-American NASCAR driver isn't anything out of the ordinary.
 

"It's sorta getting to that point right now," Davis said. "You're definitely going to see more diversity drivers, more minority drivers come out. I think once some more drivers come out, it's not gonna be such a big deal any more. It's gonna be normal. Hopefully, once you get to the point where it's normal, then that would be ideal."
 

There are those who have turned down the opportunity to be involved in the Drive for Diversity opportunity, including Austin. The 17-year-old Kansas native drove a development program for Hendrick Motorsports before moving to Rusty Wallace Inc. this season.
 

It's not necessarily a knock on the program; Austin just wanted to do it on his own, with the backing of a race team like RWI.
 

"The Drive for Diversity helps a lot of young minorities who otherwise wouldn't have a shot," Austin said. "In my case, that wasn't it. I had a shot and I knew I could do it on my own. I prefer to do it that way. I'm not saying the Drive for Diversity is a bad program. It helps out a lot of people. It just wasn't for me."

Mexico City's Ruben Pardo has also tasted success in the NASCAR ranks after winning last year's Busch East season finale at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. When he first made the transition into NASCAR, Pardo admits to experiencing a certain difficulty with his fellow competitors.
 

Let it be here and forevermore known, however, that he feels it was because he was a new and unknown entity ... not because he's Hispanic. In other words, he went through what every rookie goes through until they prove themselves.
 

"Last year was difficult for me in the first races," said Pardo, who was involved in a four-car accident in the Greased Lightning 150. "I think I didn't get the same kind of reception, but I know it's normal for somebody new. I knew you had to win the respect of the drivers. It's normal in all the series and all the countries. You need to win the respect. When you win the respect, you can drive with the big boys."
 

After winning last year, Pardo is ready to roll in 2007. He's talking about bringing a Busch East championship home to his team, which is owned by Armando Fitz and Carlos Contreras. The last-place finish at Greenville-Pickens won't help, but that's a problem every driver faces.
 

Hispanic or not.
 

"Last year, I learned a lot," Pardo said. "This year, I know a couple of the tracks and I have more experience. I try to do my best to try for the championship. I know it's not easy, but I have a good team."