Legal Advocacy Group Sues NASCAR Over Allegedly Discriminating Against White Male Americans

NASCAR’s diversity initiatives could violate the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race and sex-based employment discrimination.

Martin Truex Jr. celebrates after winning the Crayon 301 NASCAR Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H., on July 17, 2023. Steven Senne/AP Photo

Advocacy group America First Legal (AFL) filed a complaint against NASCAR on Thursday, accusing the company of enforcing racial and sex-based discrimination in employment.

The complaint was filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against NASCAR and Rev Racing, a “NASCAR-supported racing team charged with developing female and minority drivers,” according to a Nov. 2 complaint sent by AFL to the EEOC.

NASCAR runs three diversity employment initiatives: “Diversity Driver Development Program,” “Diversity Pit Crew Development Program,” and “Diversity Internship Program.” Each of the programs violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to the complaint. Title VII makes it unlawful for employers to hire people on the basis of their “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”

The complaint alleges that NASCAR changed the wording within the programs to remove explicit references to race and sex, replacing them with vague terms.

For instance, before Sept. 1, 2023, the diversity program for drivers made it clear that only females belonging to the following ethnic minority groups are eligible for admission: American Indian; Alaskan native or of native/indigenous descent; Asian or Pacific Islander; black or African American; Latino or Hispanic.

“However, on or about September 1, 2023, the website was changed,” the complaint said. Instead of mentioning the race or sex of eligible candidates, the updated version said the program was open to people from “diverse backgrounds and experiences.”

“Rev Racing fail to define or explain what ‘diverse backgrounds and experiences’ means,” the complaint notes.

The same tactic was used for the pit crew and internship programs, with previous racial, ethnic, and sex eligibility replaced by the term “diverse backgrounds and experiences.”

AFL called for an EEOC investigation into the matter as “the evidence strongly suggests that NASCAR and Rev Racing have chosen to continue their unlawful employment practices under the cloak of a ‘diverse backgrounds and experiences’ rebranding,” it said.

“NASCAR’s and Rev Racing’s commitment to race and sex-based hiring has not wavered—the website changes described above seem to have been designed only to conceal their ongoing, deliberate, and illegal discrimination against white, male Americans.”

While the driver and pit crew programs are jointly operated by NASCAR and Rev Racing, the internship program is run separately by NASCAR.

The complaint alleges that by running the programs, NASCAR and Rev Racing violated Title 42 of U.S. Code Section 2000e-2(d), which prohibits racial or sex-based discrimination in training, retraining, and apprenticeship programs.

By publishing and promoting these diversity programs on NASCAR and Rev Racing websites, the accused also violated Title 42 of U.S. Code Section 2000e-3(b). This provision prohibits the printing and publication of notices for training, retraining, and apprenticeship programs that have race or sex-based discrimination.

Employment Discrimination

In an interview with The Daily Wire in August, David Bernstein, a professor at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School, pointed out that NASCAR’s diversity programs “seem to violate” Title VII, calling them “blatantly illegal.”

“Having a 100 percent quota for minorities for a position is illegal even under a very generous view of what is allowed,” he said, adding that any individual who was unable to apply for NASCAR’s employment programs on the basis of their race would have strong legal grounds to file a lawsuit against the company.

In a Nov. 2 post, AFL Senior Counsel Nick Barry said that NASCAR’s “illegal activity” of creating programs that benefit individuals explicitly based on their sex and race “should not [be] permitted to continue.”

“NASCAR shouldn’t be picking drivers based on their race and sex but on their ability to drive. All racial discrimination is wrong, even if it is the in-vogue ‘social justice’ cause of the day.”

In addition to employment, NASCAR allegedly also discriminates against a majority of white male applicants for its supplier program as well. As part of its Drive for Diversity program, NASCAR runs a “Supplier Diversity” initiative aimed at ensuring “equitable opportunities” to take part in the company’s supply chain.

To qualify as a diverse supplier, a business should be “at least 51 percent owned” by minorities, women, LGBT, veterans, disabled veterans, and disabled individuals.

Only the following ethnicities are considered minorities: black or African American, American Indian or Alaska native, Asian, Latino or Hispanic, native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander.

Woke NASCAR

The AFL letter comes roughly three months after NASCAR announced an indefinite suspension of driver Noah Gragson after he was alleged to have “liked” a meme about George Floyd.

The meme showed Mr. Floyd’s head pasted onto the body of a crab with the caption “Under da knee, under da knee,” which was a mashup of a song from “The Little Mermaid” and a reference to the way Mr. Floyd died.

The suspension came under heavy criticism online.

“Being born and raised in the South, I can tell you @Nascar has forgotten their fan base. Go woke, go broke. Bud Light the hell out of them,” author and journalist Breck Worsham said in an Aug. 7 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.

NASCAR has also enthusiastically promoted Pride Month. “We celebrate the LGBTQ+ community during #PrideMonth and beyond,” it said in a social media post last year.

In June 2022, NASCAR issued an apology after allowing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to wave the green flag ahead of a race. Mr. Abbott has previously taken action against transgender treatments for minors.

The Epoch Times reached out to NASCAR for comment.