NASCAR’s Nextel Cup series gets its second African-American-run team next season, this one entered by the estate of the late Roots author Alex Haley. Majority owner Sam Belnavis became the first black full-time owner this year by starting BelCar Motorsports with Travis Carter. Belnavis’ partner is Haley’s brother, George, a former U.S. ambassador to Gambia and executor of the Pulitzer Prize-winner’s estate. A statement from the estate said the venture seeks to “perpetuate … Haley’s spirit and legacy of family, brotherhood and understanding” and to foster African-American and minority participation in NASCAR. The estate is seeking sponsors for the car that would include tributes to Haley, whose novel tracing his lineage to slavery was adapted for ABC into TV’s most-watched miniseries when it was broadcast in 1977.( USA Today )(11-7-2003) UPDATE: The family of Alex Haley, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Roots,” wants to associate the late writer’s name with auto racing, a sport striving to reach out to African Americans. Haley’s brother, George, executor of his estate, announced Tuesday in Charlotte that Haley’s family plans to field a NASCAR Nextel Cup team in 2004, with its headquarters in Concord. But organizing a team in time for next year’s Daytona 500 could prove difficult. Several other ventures with African American involvement in recent years have been unable to put together the sponsors and skills needed to compete at the top level. The Haley estate hopes to be successful by partnering with Sam Belnavis, the first African American owner of a Nextel Cup team. Belnavis, former sports marketing director for Miller Brewing Co., is already a partner with Travis Carter in BelCar Racing, which owns the #54 car driven by Todd Bodine. Alex Haley Racing, with Belnavis’ involvement, will be a separate venture, said Bill Bryant with Empire Sports Group of Charlotte, which is working on the deal. The team’s major sponsor and a manager will be announced soon, Bryant said. George Haley is a Washington lawyer and former U.S. ambassador to Gambia. He said the goal of the estate is to promote “Alex Haley’s spirit and legacy of family, human connection, brotherhood and understanding.” If successful, the entry of a Haley team into NASCAR would bring a name strongly associated with African American heritage into a sport with little black representation. In addition to “Roots,” which became one of the most-watched television mini-series in history when it first aired in 1977, , Haley wrote “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” Bryant said the Haley team doesn’t plan to field a black driver in its first year because there are no African Americans experienced enough in the sport to compete at that level. But the group plans a recruiting and development program that could lead to more black drivers in the future and wants to put a black driver in its Cup car within a few years. NASCAR has no black drivers in its premier Winston Cup series, which will become Nextel Cup next year. One African American has ever won at the sport’s highest level — Wendell Scott, in a 1963 race in Jacksonville, FL. Bill Lester, competing in the Craftsman Truck Series for Bobby Hamilton Racing, is NASCAR’s only current African American driver. Lester will race in Friday’s season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. NASCAR is trying to build diversity through programs that link corporate sponsors to minority teams and is trying to recruit African Americans to the sport’s grassroots level, at weekly racing series tracks in the Southeast. Reggie White, a former NFL defensive lineman with the Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers, is forming Reggie White Motorsports with backing from former NFL coach and current NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs. Several other black athletes have tried to bring a minority-owned team to life in recent years. A team owned by Olympian Jackie Joyner-Kersee and her husband, Bob, and another owned primarily by NBA star Julius Erving and NFL running back Joe Washington, were unable to compete at the Winston Cup level. Before partnering with Carter for BelCar, Belnavis had another team dissolve. BH Motorsports attempted to qualify for three Cup races in 2002 with driver Ron Hornaday.( ThatsRacin.com )(11-12-2003)
