Hamilton’s success putting pressure on NASCAR
Quote selected text Published June 17th, 2007 in NASCAR News
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
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- Casey Mears talks about his new team, resting in the off-season
Real race fans do not take Nascar seriously anyway, so, who cares?
see speed channel is rlly f-ing F1
see speed channel is rlly f-ing F1 bc i no myself i dont have speed anymore bc they changed shit but i would be watching it if i had it and im thinking nascar had soemthing to do with it
well hamiltons sucess is mostly cuz of the team he is with. f1 is nothin but a parade. remember juan pablo said wen he was in f1 you could show up to the track and know u have no chance of winning because of ure team not ure drivivng skill. hamiltons good an all but his team is that only reason hes had alot of sucess.
Y’know, I’m really sick of the drive for diversity program or whatever
it’s called. I am one of the most anti-racist people out there, but
reverse racism is also uncalled for. The most talented guys are going
to get noticed. I would have no problem with other nationalities in
Nascar and I hope it happens someday soon. But they shouldn’t get
special breaks and their own program just to make it happen.
Watch me get bashed for being racist now >_>.
Kudos to Humpy, though. He’s pretty right. Though I think it’s kind
of rude to say just cuz they’re African American they can’t afford it
during childhood.
Its funny how people so easily bash something behind the cloak of Anonymity, Anonymous.
The F1 race this weekend as well as the next one at Magne Cours are being televised on the local Fox networks.
Lewis Hamilton does not appear to be the norm for any type of driver. He’s only raced in seven F1 races so far and has two wins from the pole in a row. He’s also finished on the podium every single race of his career so far (That’s a top 3 if you don’t watch F1). I don’t see how the Winston Salem Journal or Humpy can say this is putting pressure on NASCAR. And, like stretch said if ever there was a team oriented sport in racing then it would be F1. Driver is a smaller part there than any series, I think. Although, he is beating out the two time defending champion Alonso, but there is no telling what is going on behind the scenes at McLaren. Still, it takes a good driver to get a car safely to the finish.
If black men or women wanna race then they’ll come. If I was black I would be embarassed and angered by things like this “Drive for Diversity”. Affirmative action for racing is how I see it and that’s not a pretty thing. If you artificially force a certain group into something you’re not necessarily going to get the talent that deserves to be there. You could have a billion dollar campaign to get some diversity in hockey and I don’t think you would ever get much.
With that said Lewis Hamilton is the f**king s**t. This sparks my interest in F1 again. 22 years old and leading the championship by like 10 points in only his 7th race. That’s awesome. No “Drive for Diversity” put him there, he just showed up.
For once I agree with Axl, there are no black NASCAR drivers because either they aren’t interested or they aren’t good enough. If either of those things changes, then there will be success for the “Drive for Diversity” goal.
u no wut i rlly like watching nascar when i first started watching it but since then ive started to not like it as much bc its b.s. sometimes also. and you cant say f1 o only if u have a good car you’ll win,bc then u have to say that about nascar also. if you want a good race where anyone can win you got to watch dirt racing which they have on eather espn or espn 2 on sunday mornings
Why would a talented black driver want to bother with all the southern racist?
Just because a person is not reverse racist doesn’t make them racist.
I would welcome any black driver, Hispanic driver, any other nationality
driver, into the sport. If they took their licks and worked their a__ off
just like the rest of the guys, not got noticed simply for the fact
they’re either female or not white just cuz Nascar wants to meet it’s
quota. And it’s incredibly stupid to assume all Southern people are
racist. And that’s coming from a Northerner.
When you post something here, have you ever noticed Breanna responds within 30 minutes?
Breanna, no one cares about your opinion.
Breanna does not come here to comment on racing, she comes here to comment on the posters.
It comes down to talent meeting opportunity. Evidentally this Hamilton has talent. Willy Rbbs thought because he raced and succeeded in obscurity, NASCAR, CART and the IRL would drop their pants for him. When that didn’t happen, he cried it was racial. That sucky drivers like Brett Bodine and Hut the Mutt got rides. He forgot that they paid their dues first. That they attracted sponsors for their so called abilities and not the color of their skin. Willy had McDonalds and even comedian Bill Cosby sponsoring him. He drove some junk in his early NASCAR attempt but it was better than what some of the white drivers had ( Means, Teague, McDuffie). They didn’t complain. They just wanted to race. In any walk of life you should be judged by your talent and skills, not skin color. I hope this Hamilton has a good career. He’s off to a pretty good start. Formula 1 should be proud of him.
those of you who say he is winning because of his team obviously don’t follow F1. Hamilton is running as Fernando Alonso’s teammate. Alonso has multiple F1 championships and was the only person in recent years who could even challenge schumacher. Hamilton is better than Alonso, and also Alonos is a whiny bitch, hence why I don’t like him.
+1 to the reverse racism thing. There is only like one black player in the NHL, but they don’t try to specially train blacks to become NHL players.
Lewis Hamilton is brilliant. True he is on a great team, but it takes alot of talent to go to two courses he’s never seen and take pole and win both races. Maybe one day we will get to the point in racing where its not a big deal if someone is black or a female. Racing is racing, just enjoy it. I think they need to use the drive for diversity for the toyota cars haha.
I think the media is more concerned about race and gender than any real “race” fans or real drivers.
You NASCAR haters are hilarious. There isn’t one NASCAR fan who is concerned about bashing another series. I don’t see why open wheel fans constantly do so. WRC dominates everything as far as driver ability so step off that high horse.
Anonymous, you obviously don’t know much about the south or NASCAR.
Axel Foley…you know nothing about racing. Good thing Nascar is just entertainment.
To Axel and his comment about the WRC owning all as far as driver skill…
Co-signed! I used to watch that stuff religiously when Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz used to be teammates… Now, either SPEED doesn’t show it anymore or I just didn’t keep up after Sainz joind Pugeot… but I definitely agree, if you want to see true driving skill, watch the WRC…
I haven’t been able to find WRC on anywhere either. It really makes me sad. All of racing focuses on entertainment except World Rally… I guess that’s why no one carries it. I find it extremely entertaining. I could watch those in-car shots with the co-drivers blaring directions all day every day and never get bored. There’s nothing more impressive. NASCAR is exciting, F1 is interesting but Rally is about driving, real driving. If there is one thing I know about racing, it’s that.
Joe, if you happen to find WRC coverage on television anywhere please share. The only thing I’ve found is online coverage via WRC.com which leaves much to be desired. Especially considering you have to pay for it.
WRC takes great talent and car control, but, the difference is they race against the clock. It’s a different type of racing and different things come into play when racing side by side.
Yeah, Nascar and it’s 15 caution flags are exciting……..yawn! Everytime the race gets interesting…here comes a caution flag. Maybe there is debris on the track and maybe it is for racing…..ie: to make the race actually seem exciting. I think excitement is qualifying for races. Opps, that takes talent.
You sound very familiar to me…
I know the differences in racing. I should have been less succinct with my statement. I apologize, my racist Southern brain can only articulate so much. I should have said forms of motor-sports instead of racing. WRC being the form that meets the definition of “sport” most fully.
ha Axel, be careful or he’ll be coming on every board you post on to
bash you and then say you’re only here to bash people. o.O
I’m thinking about watching my first ever F1 race just to see this
Hamilton guy. Wonder if Nascar will ever land him in a car? Just a
thought, cuz several of their top drivers have been trying it out
lately. Hmm, guess that means Nascar is good enough for them and
they’re the ones driving your precious F1 series.
I like F1… Too bad your first F1 race will be Magny Cours. Its kind of a crap circuit, but Hamilton should make it interesting. It will also be Magny Cours last race according to F1 officials.
F1 does seem to be extremely easy for Hamilton… So far, atleast.
Juan Pablo was a middle of the road F1 talent. Top F1 talent like Michael Schmacher make over 50 million per year and have no need for F1! Hamilton will be there soon enough and I really don’t see why he would consider Nascar.
There have been no TOP F1 talent trying out Nascar. You may choose to comment on racing you have actually watched and understand.
Breanna, I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but some people have double standards that they place on others but don’t abide by… I might be mistaken but isn’t that called hypocrisy?
Oh, and I was referring to Anonymous so there’s no misunderstanding.
Magny Cours I’ve heard of, but I really know nothing about road
courses, save Watkins of course. I wish I was going this year =[.
haha I do believe you're right, m'dear =].
nascar races on Watkins Glen short track….the long track there is amazing!