Urban Youth Racing School battling
By Pete Schnatz
For The Inquirer
Some 2,000 youths, ages 8 through 18, have passed through the doors of the Urban Youth Racing School since its inception in 1998. But the Philadelphia-based nonprofit organization, which helps inner-city youth learn to compete in the classroom and on the racetrack, may be locked in a competition that it can’t win.Although the program received encouraging news this week when General Motors said it would continue its support, including a $125,000 annual donation, UYRS leaders are at odds with NASCAR over philosophical differences and questions about funding.
The financial dispute apparently involves $32,000, and the two sides can’t agree on whether the payment applied to 2007 or 2008.
Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR’s managing director for public affairs, oversees the sanctioning body’s diversity initiatives. Jadotte resigned his position from the UYRS board of directors in February, and his relationship with the school’s staff has deteriorated.
Jadotte would not specify his concerns about UYRS.
“NASCAR’s had a long-standing relationship with the Urban Youth Racing School, and it’s a relationship that has been built around significant support from NASCAR and our many partners in the industry,” Jadotte said in a phone interview last week. “Teams, drivers, tracks, sponsors and manufacturers have all been supportive [of the UYRS] over the last 10 years, and that support continues today.
“There are certain parts of their program that we’ve had discussions about. . . . and we certainly believe the Urban Youth Racing School has the potential to do more in the communities where the program has been established. We look forward to working with them toward getting to this result.”
UYRS founder Anthony Martin and director of operations Michelle Kuilan said they have complied with every request for documentation on their students’ progress and contend that NASCAR is withholding financial support for 2008 - an assertion that Jadotte characterized as “factually incorrect.”
Yet Martin was adamant in wondering, “Why all of a sudden is NASCAR telling us that they’re not getting their money’s worth from our program? They’ve given us $250,000 since 1999, and they’ve received over $4 million in positive impressions in the media.”
Kuilan said that figure was derived from a LexisNexis search that turned up more than 700 articles associating NASCAR with the UYRS.
UYRS students usually gather on Saturdays. Sometimes they meet at the North Front Street office, where the school has seven cars and a race shop. Other times, they meet at go-kart tracks to race.
“There’s no one on the planet, when it comes to inner-city kids, who has diversified NASCAR more than I have,” Martin said. “Ninety percent of the kids coming into our program know nothing about NASCAR. But our curriculum teaches them about the sport, as well as the career opportunities in NASCAR, and they go back to their neighborhoods and share that experience with their friends and families. What more could [NASCAR] want from me? We are real when it comes to diversifying NASCAR.”
NASCAR wants UYRS to explain the program’s cost per student and how many students have gone into racing professions during the school’s first 10 years.
“We’re trying to create pathways that are realistic for these kids to get into the sport, and NASCAR asks how many of our kids are actually working in the industry,” Kuilan said.
“But in order for that to happen, there have to be opportunities. And once they’re there, are they going to be mistreated or deal with racism? You have to be open as an industry to really let people in.”
Kuilan’s reference was to the $225 million lawsuit brought against NASCAR in June by Mauricia Grant, a former Nationwide Series inspector who has alleged sexual, racial and gender discrimination on the job.
The UYRS grad who has gone the farthest in racing is Danny Colon, a 20-year-old from North Philadelphia. A communications major entering his sophomore year at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, Colon is working as an intern with Joe Gibbs Racing.
“I was 12 years old when I started [at the UYRS] and all I wanted to do was race, that was the magnet that drew me in,” Colon said during a recent visit to the school. “But then I actually did really well in the classroom and saw how many opportunities are out there. Working with Gibbs is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that you can’t put a price on.”
Still, NASCAR has concerns about the UYRS goal - is it intended to develop drivers or as a life-skills program?
Kuilan said she believes it can be both, pointing to an ongoing study by Jamie Bracey, a doctoral student in Temple University’s Psychological Studies in Education department and the assistant director of training for Temple’s Center for Intergenerational Learning.
Bracey, who recently served on Gov. Rendell’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) focus group, applauded the UYRS for being “on the cutting edge of education innovation.”
“The UYRS is doing its part through an evolving learning process, and emerging data suggests they’re having some success,” Bracey said in an e-mail. “Combine a chance for open dialogue with learning about math, engineering, science and technology while racing go-karts - the change in attitude toward education is magical.”
Data provided by Kuilan showed that of the students who have passed through the UYRS program, 95 percent have graduated from high school and 80 percent have gone on to a post-secondary school.
Jeff Chew, the marketing manager for Chevy Racing, doesn’t need statistics to convince him that the UYRS is worth supporting - even as GM looks to slash a reported $10 million from its motorsports budget. Cutting financial support “isn’t even on our radar right now,” Chew said.
“We’ve been associated with the Urban Youth Racing School for at least a decade, and that includes participating in their annual banquet,” Chew said. “It’s very rewarding to see the enthusiasm on the kids’ faces as we go through the awards ceremony, their genuine love of the program is very cool to experience.”
Martin wants to keep working with NASCAR.
“I think it will only be beneficial if we can work together to grow the sport,” Martin said, “and it’s unfair to put these kids in the middle of a money war.”
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