CupScene.com

(By Greg Engle)

Posted: Tuesday,March 31st, 2009

(By Reid Spencer,Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service)

A chance meeting in a Greenville, S.C., insurance office provided a jump start to the career of Michael Cherry, a member of NASCAR’s 2009 Drive for Diversity class.

Something as simple as making a deposit on an electric bill brought Addis Motorsports team owner Blair Addis and Nationwide agent Carlo White together in a common cause that brought Nationwide sponsorship to Cherry’s racing efforts in NASCAR’s Whelen All-American late model stock car series at Greenville-Pickens Speedway.

“Blair Addis walked into my office, and he was going to make a deposit on a utility bill for this guy named Michael Cherry,” said White, who sits on the diversity council for Nationwide Insurance. Who would have ever thought it would have been the driver?

“Blair began to sell me this pitch. He said, ‘I’ve got this driver coming up, and we’re getting ready to diversify NASCAR.’ I wasn’t a big NASCAR fan before, but I do know it’s a great sport with a huge following.”

In short order, a sponsorship deal that included Nationwide’s corporate and local offices was structured, and Cherry began the season at Greenville-Pickens under Nationwide sponsorship. In the March 21 doubleheader at the half-mile short track, Cherry posted finishes of third and seventh.

The African-American driver, 19, is making the most of his participation in the Drive for the Diversity program, as well as the skills he learned as a child. Addis recognized Cherry’s talent at the annual D4D combine at South Boston (Va.) Speedway that lets prospective candidates for the program showcase their talents.

“His name had been dropped to me a couple of times, but I had never seen him on track,” Addis said. “When I saw him at the combine, he just had really good car control. He drove the car differently from everyone else. He stood out from everyone else from the standpoint of how he made the entry into the corner, brake control, etc.

“The thing that I was most impressed with is that he’s so mature for a 19-year-old. He knows how to work on a car. He knows every aspect, front to rear. That’s why we decided to move him to South Carolina (from his home in Tampa, Fla.), so he could be a fixture in the race shop, in the day-to-day operation.”

Hence, the need for a deposit on an electric bill.

Cherry relishes the work in the shop.

“I’ve been helping my dad since I was eight or nine years old,” he said. “If you really want to learn something, you’ve got to get greasy.”

Cherry isn’t the only D4D driver who is making a major move this season. After winning the track championship at All-American Speedway in Roseville, Calif., last year, Paulie Harraka is competing for Bill McAnally Racing in NASCAR’s Camping World West touring series in 2009 as a teammate to defending series champion Eric Holmes.

Harraka, too, is mindful of the opportunity presented by the Drive for Diversity program.

“The D4D program was real instrumental in giving me the opportunity to go drive for Bill McAnally Racing,” Harraka said. “They let me go to the combine, and, yeah, it was about me showing what I could do at the combine, but they gave me that opportunity. D4D was definitely instrumental in getting to where I’m at.”

Though it’s clearly a step up in class, and though an engine failure dropped him to 17th in the season opener at Thunderhill Speedway in Texas, Harraka, of Syrian descent, is optimistic about his prospects.

“Obviously, our No. 1 goal is to win the rookie of the year title, but we also believe that we can contend for the championship,” said Harraka, who is studying engineering at Duke University. “And we want to go out and win races.”

So does Kristin Bumbera, who will debut in the Camping World East Series on April 11 at Greenville-Pickens. Winner of two late model races at All-American Speedway with her family-owned team last year, Bumbera, from Sealy, Texas, will drive for owner Booby Hamilton Jr. in 2009.

Bumbera was recognized as Drive for Diversity Participant of the Year in 2008.

“That was an amazing honor to be voted by my peers, as well as the people of NASCAR and the sponsors of the sport,” Bumbera said. “I’m finally moving over to the East Coast, where all the action is. I’m really excited. I get to contend for the rookie of the year title, and I think we have a very good shot at it.”

The progress of Harraka, Bumbera, Jonathon Gomez (Camping World West) and Jonathan Smith (Camping World East) also is emblematic of the progress of the program, which is managed by The 909 Group, headed by Max Siegel, former Dale Earnhardt Inc. president of global operations.

Since assuming the D4D leadership this year, Siegel has advocated establishing consistent standards that will allow minority and female drivers to progress beyond the developmental level. One of the objectives of the program, Siegel says, is to secure outside sponsorship that will allow the program to fund the racing efforts of D4D drivers and crew members as they move into higher levels of NASCAR racing.

“The first thing that we’re trying to do different — and immediately — is to give the program industry credibility and credibility outside of NASCAR,” Siegel said. “How we’re going about that has been pretty hands-on, with respect to the owners. We didn’t have anything to do with the selection process of the owners or the participants in the program this year.

“So the first thing that we really wanted was get involved with the owners and come up with consistent standards across the board with respect to who’s going to be the ownership group, what the expectations are with respect to the operators, ensuring that they have the type of equipment and programs that will not only get the participants on track but help them grow from a skills standpoint. . .

“The biggest issue is a misunderstanding of as to what the purpose of the program has been. The philosophy of the program has been geared toward introducing as many people who are minorities or women to NASCAR racing and establishing a greater pipeline of talent both of drivers and crew members.”