It should be no surprise that there’s a huge lack of diversity in sports racing. NASCAR is predominantly a White sport with only a few people of color being part of racing organizations. Melissa Harville-Lebron is a Black American woman who now owns a NASCAR team franchise.
The 47-year old started her career in the entertainment industry when she worked as an intern at Sony Music. She launched her own music label in 2005 but after a severe asthma attack ten years later, she had to retire early. In 2014, she opened an entertainment company, W.M. Stone Enterprises, Inc. and started going to races with her sons. As she became more familiar with the sport, she noticed the lack of diversity and its dominance by mostly White males. Melissa decided to create E2 Northeast Motorsports to help bridge the gap and she soon signed a deal with NASCAR, making her the first Black woman to own a NASCAR team.
E2 Northeast Motorsports, the first multicultural NASCAR team, is comprised of 6 drivers of various professional licensed levels. There are four Black and Latino drivers (two in the Whelen All-American Series, two Camping World Truck Series) and the remaining drivers are Melissa’s two sons. On February 16, her team also competed in its first race in the Camping World Truck Series at Daytona where Scott Stenzel finished 15th place at Daytona.
In a statement, Harville-Lebron stated, “This team truly exemplifies diversity that is sure to attract a younger multicultural fan base.” Speaking on the importance of her team, she continued, “It’s important for our culture to push generational wealth to our children. It’s important to lead by example. All too often our children see negative images of our culture and I think it’s very important for people of our culture actually succeeding in business.”]]>
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