Hamilton’s success putting pressure on NASCAR

The biggest story in NASCAR this weekend may not be at Michigan International Speedway, but rather at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Lewis Hamilton, a 22-year-old Formula One surprise winner last weekend in Montreal, will be heading the world-class cast for the United States Grand Prix.

Hamilton just scored the biggest motor-sports win ever for a black driver. He’s also leading the points in Formula One, just seven races into his major-league career.

Hamilton’s quick success has put NASCAR and its execs on the hot seat, because NASCAR’s long-running and highly promoted “Drive for Diversity" has yet to come up with any such dramatic success.

Charlotte promoter Humpy Wheeler said that ups the pressure.

“Lewis Hamilton is the exact example of what’s got to happen here in NASCAR – he started out at an early age (at 9). And his path is exactly the path we’ve got to get our kids on – we’ve got to get black kids at an early age… start them out when they’re 10 or 12 years old, in something like our Bandoleros.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have as many black drivers as we should have. But we’ve got more black drivers in this type of racing than any other type of racing.

“But the problem is unfortunately not a lot of black kids that age can afford to go racing. And culturally it’s not something that driving them. They want to be the center fielder for the Yankees, or a running back in the NFL. They don’t think about being a race driver. And that’s what we’ve got to change." More at Winston Salem Journal