White men don’t need to apply
While the squares of our cultural bingo card have hosted wild items over the past few years, who could have imagined that this one would be removed from the hopper?
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has received a formal complaint suggesting that NASCAR discriminates against white men through its diversity program and the program’s operational arm, Rev Racing.
Even Marty McFly and Doc Brown couldn’t have seen this one coming when they went back to the future.
Speaking of time travel, imagine beaming back to 2004, when NASCAR was putting together the official pieces of its “Drive for Diversity” program – a program designed to present opportunities behind the wheel and behind the pit wall for… uh, yeah , non-whites. males.
As you write the mission statement, you wonder if anyone at the conference table looked out the nearest window at the horizon, took a deep breath, and said, “One of our goals should be to one day face accusations of discrimination against white guys.”
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This is doubtful, and it’s a forgivable oversight, given that many of our current cultural fights over food involve topics unimaginable until yesterday, or so it seems. Maybe the day before yesterday.
What is America First?
America First Legal, generally described as a “conservative group” led by former members of the Trump administration, says its goal is to fight an “unholy alliance of corrupt special interests, big tech titans, fake media and liberal Washington politicians.” »
“With your support,” the mission statement continues, “we will oppose the anti-jobs, anti-freedom, anti-faith, anti-borders, anti-police, anti-American crusade of the radical left. »
Creating opportunities for the next William Byron or Chase Elliott wasn’t mentioned specifically, but we get the drift.
The AFL may be different from many, if not most, other national organizations fighting for what they perceive as a fairer and more virtuous America, but like those others, the AFL website includes a link titled “Donate”. Whether on the far right, the far left, or somewhere in this increasingly narrow milieu, continued advocacy always seems to depend on funding.
As for the AFL, it reaches out to a wide variety of businesses and industries for modern membership in DEI – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.
Here is some further explanation from the AFL’s lead lawyer, Nick Barry:
“NASCAR, in partnership with Rev Racing, has created programs to benefit individuals based explicitly on their gender and race. This illegal activity should not be allowed to continue. NASCAR should not choose drivers based on race and gender, but based on their ability to drive. All racial discrimination is wrong, even if it is the hottest “social justice” cause of the moment.”
Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson and Daniel Suarez graduate
NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program has yet to flood the market with diversity drivers, although some current big-name racers — Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suarez — have come through the program.
NASCAR’s diversity efforts are most visible outside of the cars, where it is very common to see non-white men, in racing team gear, in the garages and pits. Pit crews, shop crews and NASCAR’s own team of officials have been integrated far beyond what they were a generation ago.
And NASCAR Chairman Steve Phelps remains full speed ahead in his efforts to continue expanding that integration.
“I’m proud of the work we’ve done in the areas of diversity inclusion to expand our sport,” Phelps told the media last weekend in Phoenix. “We’re going to continue our efforts to have the whole country, the whole world, come to our facilities and watch this on television, because it’s about the love of racing. I think the race is a great opportunity for people to come together.
The 21st century has seen NASCAR implement various strategies to expand its fan base, notably as races were moved out of the geographic center of the South – North Wilkesboro, Rockingham, Darlington – and located in glitzy locations like California and Las Vegas , with races long lost. dreams of New York.
The proverbial tipping point, when NASCAR took a cold break and embarked on its modern endeavors, occurred in 2020 when the organization officially banned the flying of the Confederate flag at its host tracks.
Even many fans who have never owned, let alone flown, a Confederate flag lamented what they perceived as NASCAR’s capitulation to political correctness and its modern offspring, wokeness.
Virtue signaling, by its definition, is a stupid business but so common today that we barely notice it. Even if some of NASCAR’s perceived modern wokeness is just virtue signaling, you have to admit that there is a gray area where commercial interests reside.
Would, for example, Chicago street race did they happen without some modern signals and direct actions from NASCAR? THE Los Angeles Coliseum as host of the Busch Light Clash?
Maybe not. Hell, probably not. And while many fans would be fine avoiding Los Angeles and Chicago, the networks are hungry for those big markets, and NASCAR would be downright unwise to overlook the billion-dollar TV deals that come from such strategies.
NASCAR and Steve Phelps stick to their ‘growth strategy’
Former NASCAR chief Bill France Jr. often repeated his overarching philosophy: “You either grow or you shrink; you never stay the same. »
NASCAR, he said, chose to grow. It’s always like that.
Phelps confirmed this last week: “Our job when we wake up in the morning: How can we grow this sport?
This effort will continue and take turns that we probably can’t even imagine right now.
Even if it means alienating those remaining from the long-time grizzled fan base…and the folks at America First Legal.
— Contact Ken Willis at [email protected]
