There are plenty of ways to make an impact in the world of motorsports, and leaders from NASCAR, GM Motorsports, technology, education, philanthropy, and civic leadership at Culture FYI’RS ATL gathered together to highlight the intersection between the intensity of racing cars on a speedway and emerging tech.
Atlanta native and NASCAR driver Rajah Caruth was joined by Brandon Thompson, the vice president of diversity and inclusion at NASCAR, and TaiJaune Robinson, the engineering business manager of GM Motorsports, to discuss how they’re showcasing motorsports to underserved youth and working to get them involved by highlighting its reach to different career pathways such as engineering, artificial intelligence, technology, and data science.
“That’s the cool thing about not just racing, but life, is that people are in your life for a reason,” Caruth said. “And it’s a matter of valuing that when they’re with you and utilizing that, but also paying it forward when you can.”
The panel was moderated by Gerald “The Sound” Keys, the founder of Prompt Haus, and Darrell Booker, the co-founder of The Twenty Four Foundation, who asked the panelists about their career journeys and what it took to get started in motorsports, from internships to mentorship.
They’ve been able to reach the youth through simulators that operate like video games, where competitions and mechanics are curated by NASCAR to identify and guide young talent and develop real skills. That is supported by programs Caruth was involved in, such as the NASCAR Driver Development Program, which pairs drivers with a team of executives, athletic directors, crew chiefs, and mentors to help them achieve career success and reach one of the NASCAR national series.
“It’s about being able to have people experience NASCAR in ways that they may not have expected to and to be able to really showcase NASCAR, but to do it in a way where we feel comfortable in that space,” Thompson said. “That’s really what’s led our strategy over the last four or five years within the underserved and underrepresented communities that we seek to maintain.”
Black people are underrepresented in motorsports. According to a report by The Hamilton Commission, less than 1% of the Formula 1 workforce is Black. Robinson emphasized that in order to accelerate in racing, you need innovation and diversity of thought.
“It’s all about finding the next best way to do the next best thing, to find the fastest speed, to make sure that my car beats my competitors,” Robinson said. That requires diversity of thought. That requires people from different backgrounds and from different mindsets, different levels to understand and come together and to really try to figure out what we can do that no one has ever done before.”
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Laura Nwogu
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