Marc Morano, CNSNews.com
Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003

"Reports of demise in the relationship between NASCAR and Rainbow/PUSH have been greatly exaggerated," said Charles Farrell, director of Rainbow Sports division of Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, in an interview with CNSNews.com.

Farrell was referring to a July report in USA Today, which quoted unnamed NASCAR officials as saying they were cutting off funding to Jackson's organization. National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing has reportedly given at least $250,000 to Jackson's organizations in recent years.

'Behind the Scenes'

Jackson and NASCAR's chief operating officer, George Pyne, held a "closed-door meeting" Tuesday regarding minority outreach in motor sports, according to Farrell. The meeting, which took place at Rainbow/PUSH's Atlanta field office, included representatives from NASCAR corporate sponsors Coca Cola, UPS and Home Depot. Farrell referred to the Atlanta meeting as "unprecedented" and "behind the scenes."

"The first time in the history of motor sports, we had a meeting that included sponsors, African American motor sports owners and drivers and NASCAR," Farrell said of the meeting, in which more than 50 people participated.

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"NASCAR said [at the meeting that it will spend] $1.2 million in support of putting at least four black drivers in cars next year," Farrell said. "We are going to be helping to identify those black drivers."

Joe Gibbs Racing, the team headed by the former head coach of the National Football League's Washington Redskins, will also be working in conjunction with NASCAR to locate potential minority drivers, Farrell added.

Terrence Burns, managing director of consumer communications for NASCAR, confirmed that the meeting between Jackson and NASCAR officials took place on Tuesday. He also defended the motor sports organization's decision to seek out Jackson's help in minority recruitment despite the criticism from some auto racing fans.

'We Can't Please Everyone'

"We've got 75 million fans, and they're not going to agree on anything, any one issue, whether it's the rules or who won the race, so we understand that, we can't please everyone," Burns told CNSNews.com.

"[Minority outreach] is not a popularity contest, it's an opportunity for us to try to reach out to communities that we don't have access to, to be honest with you," Burns said.

NASCAR's minority outreach has included and will continue to include attendance at events organized by Jackson, according to Burns.

"We have, in the past, certainly participated in Rainbow/PUSH motor sports conferences, to go there and tell people about NASCAR and to tell people what career opportunities there are in our sport," Burns said.

Burns refused to comment on whether NASCAR was going to continue to provide financial support to Jackson's organization.

'We Don't Discuss'

"We are a privately held company. We are a family company. We don't discuss how much we give [or] any contributions at any level," Burns explained.

Farrell also would not disclose whether NASCAR has resumed the funding of Rainbow/PUSH.

"You would have to check with our Chicago office. They deal with sponsorship and money," Farrell said. "I don't really have any idea on who at this point is sponsoring us. I just don't have the figures," he added.

Several phone calls to Jackson's spokeswoman, Keiana Peyton-Barrett, at Chicago's Rainbow/PUSH headquarters were not returned.

Peter Flaherty, president of National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a Jackson critic who has led the effort to end NASCAR's financial support of Rainbow/PUSH, declined to criticize Tuesday's meeting in Atlanta between Jackson and NASCAR.

"If NASCAR people want to go and speak at open forums, fine. But we draw the line with financial support of Jesse Jackson's organizations," Flaherty told CNSNews.com.

NLPC is the Washington, D.C.-based legal watchdog group that filed a formal complaint about Jackson's finances with the Internal Revenue Service in 2001. Flaherty's group had taken credit for NASCAR's earlier reported decision to cease funding of Jackson's organization.

Flaherty believes NASCAR's inclusion of Joe Gibbs Racing, which is working with former NFL defensive lineman Reggie White, is a positive development.

"It sounds like [NLPC's] protest had a very positive impact on making NASCAR get serious about minority outreach. It looks as though they understand that Jesse Jackson and his organizations should not have the franchise on those initiatives," Flaherty explained.

"Before, Jackson was the lead organization. Now, at least Gibbs is involved."

Farrell said the only sore spot from Tuesday's meeting was that some NASCAR sponsors did not respond to the invitations sent by Rainbow/PUSH.

"The lone disappointment is that we sent out letters - probably 50 to 60 letters - to major, major NASCAR sponsors, [and] some didn't even bother to respond," Farrell said.

'Jesse Jackson Is Radioactive'

Flaherty was not surprised that some corporations did not respond to Jackson's invitations.

"I think segments of corporate America are beginning to realize that Jesse Jackson is radioactive. They now realize there is a cost to associating with Jackson," Flaherty said.

NASCAR has been subjected to what some consider racially charged rhetoric about professional stock car racing.

'White Supremacy'

As CNSNews.com reported in June, Bill Shack, a board member of Jackson's Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, called auto-racing organizations such as NASCAR "the last bastion of white supremacy."

Shack alleged that race-car organizations had refused to reach out to minorities because they "don't particularly ... want you out there, no more than they wanted Tiger [Woods] out there."

Shack's June 24 remarks came during a workshop called "Motor Sports: Increasing Minority Participation" at the 32nd annual Rainbow/PUSH Coalition meeting in Chicago.

'Southern Redneck Cracker Sport'

Farrell later defended Shack's comments, telling CNSNews.com that even NASCAR would concede "there is a perception that stock car racing is a good ol' boys' Southern redneck cracker sport."

Reggie White also applied pressure on NASCAR to stop funding Jackson when he accused the Rainbow/PUSH leader of wasting the $250,000 given to him by the racing organization.

"It's really disappointing to me that Jesse and his organization would take a quarter of a million dollars from NASCAR and not do anything with it to try to get black drivers into the sport," White said in an interview on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" program on July 16.

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