Driver Bubba Wallace
Rajah Caruth liked the animated autos of “Cars” as a kid, got hooked on the race scene after a trip to the track and sharpened his driving skills as a teen via online racing.
Caruth might one day earn his shot at inspiring the next generation of drivers.
The 18-year-old Caruth is a NASCAR prospect, a young Black driver and one of a half-dozen youngsters participating in the Drive for Diversity program tasked with finding and developing drivers for a sport lean on women and minorities behind the wheel.
“Ideally, I’d want to be in the Cup Series in the next decade,” Caruth said. “Hopefully, by then.”
The program has developed few drivers for the elite Cup Series over nearly two decades in existence — Bubba Wallace and Daniel Suarez are among the former members and the only ones currently with rides — but a renewed push at scouting younger drivers and promoting them has NASCAR optimistic more recent classes will reverse the trend.
Wallace’s extraordinary season and his emergence as a social activist, in fact, have put a bright light on the program, which wobbled for years between a public relations exercise and a meaningful avenue toward a Cup Series career.
There are 56 graduates of the Drive for Diversity pit crew program actively working across the three national series, including 27 at the Cup Series level. Cup rides for program graduates are scarce, though. Kyle Larson, who is half Japanese, was the most successful alumnus until he used a racial slur during a live-streamed virtual race and was fired by Chip Ganassi.
“There needs to be more resources available for that program,” said Brad Daugherty, the lone Black team owner in NASCAR.
The task of turning the program into more of a driver factory is on the agenda of Drive for Diversity director Jusan Hamilton.
The 30-year-old Hamilton, the first Black to serve as race director for a Cup Series race, is a former dirt track driver who applied to an early version of the program only to be told he needed more experience. As his D4D role expanded, Hamilton helped change the goals to targeting prospects as young as 12 and established a coordinated developmental system.
Drivers are tutored by older members or other mentors, receive marketing training and there is an emphasis on physical fitness.
“We can control the full process and develop the drivers, help them grow within the system from beginning up to when they’re ready to race at the ARCA level,” Hamilton said. “They can then showcase their talents and use that to get themselves beyond the touring level and up through the ranks of Truck, Xfinity and Cup.”
The challenges of securing a major ride — support resources, critical sponsorship money and connections — are difficult for any young driver but seem greater for minorities. Aside from pushing for more diversity inside the race car, D4D is also looking at ways to increase diversity among sponsorship, ownership and support roles.
“It’s an uphill battle and that’s one of the biggest things the program sets out to offset at the youth level,” Hamilton said. “The program is now set up to be able to give them a better opportunity to make those connections and to understand those resources to get to the next level.” AP
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