Black Flag For Black Racers ?
by M.L. Morgan 8-27-1999
Well, race fans, a recent AP article about Thee Dixon got my wheels turning again.
The name Thee Dixon is not a household fixture. He is a black businessman who is also an avid supporter of Nascar racing. His Mansion Racing Team has been around since 1988. Never had any success but he did sponsor a car for Mike Skinner in 1990 in which they made the Winston Cup field for the spring race at Rockingham. No, they didn't win the race - this isn't a fairy tale - but they competed with the big boys.
Dixon has never given up. He has been tireless in his efforts to secure sponsorship for his "team". It doesn't matter his team exists only on paper. Just a minor speedbump.
I admire his tenacity. He is intensely motivated but ever the gentleman. He has never asked for a free ride or preferential treatment. He has publicly thanked Nascar for their 'open-door' policies. I frequently throw rocks at Nascar policies, but they have never denied any team the chance to qualify because they had a black driver or a black owner.
It would seem Dixon's hackles were raised by the recent flap that Jackie Joyner-Kersee and her husband would lend their names to a Nascar team, an obvious response to a diatribe by the acknowledged rabble-rouser, Jesse Jackson. Jackson made his typically absurd, racist comments about the failure of the Joe Washington-Julius Erving team. The team failed to materialize because they didn't have a clue about racing. Not because both Washington and Erving are black. The Joyner-Kersee deal is pathetic, at best. Grasping for publicity. Just the kind of publicity which makes me fume.
A lot of people are now trying to capitalize on Nascar's incredible popularity. These people are just carpet-baggers of the highest order. They are not fit to kill. But Thee Dixon is not one of these scum bags. He has always been a class act.
Dixon's approach to attracting sponsorship has been to go to the minority-owned companies hoping they would share his enthusiasm for opening a new market to their customers. After 12 years it seems the minority-owned companies are content to perpetuate this image of the minority kids, perfectly content to play patty-cake at the hamburger joint. What a bunch of crap. Even skinny white boys like me know better than that.
I wish him well.
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