Suarez makes historical mark for himself, sport
CHARLOTTE, N.C. » Bubba Wallace is the face of NASCAR diversity. Daniel Suarez plays an equally important role.
His road to NASCAR first stopped in upstate New York in the dead of winter. His English was limited and most of Suarez’s racing had been at lower levels in Mexico. But a K&N Pro Series team owner had offered to mentor him, so here Suarez was in Buffalo. In January.
He was back home in Mexico in a matter of months.
Suarez returned to the United States the next year only this time he headed directly to North Carolina, the hub of NASCAR. His English was still a struggle, but the Nicolas Cage movie “Gone in 60 Seconds” with subtitles helped him with both the language and American culture.
Roughly nine years after he left Mexico determined to make it racing stock cars in America, Suarez last weekend b ecame the first Mexican in the Fox Sports broadcast booth for a national NASCAR race. To signify the occasion, Suarez called a lap in Spanish — a well-meaning crossover cut short by an untimely caution.
“Tenemos una bandera amarilla!” Suarez called. “Caution is out, amigos.”
This was a historic moment for NASCAR, which since its 1948 founding has struggled to add diversity. NASCAR was born from a need to organize the auto racing boon fermented by bootleggers and World War II mechanics who returned home with the skills to build race cars.
NASCAR participation was almost unanimously white men and outsiders were rare. Elias Bowie in 1955 was the first of just eight Black drivers to race at NASCAR’s top level; Sara Christian ran in the 1949 Cup debut and remains one of only 16 women to compete at NASCAR’s top level.
An official diversity and development