Drive for Diversity Struggles to Get Into Gear: NASCAR's Initiative Is Slow to Produce Wider Base of Fans

It has worked for aspiring models, chefs and fashion designers. So why not a reality TV series that chronicles the search for NASCAR's next minority or female star?

"Changing Lanes" is its working title. And through 10 hour-long episodes, this reality docu-drama, to be aired next year on Black Entertainment Television, will tell the back-stories of roughly a dozen African American, Hispanic and female stock-car racers chosen this fall to take part in NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program.

It's the brainchild of Max Siegel, an entertainment lawyer and former president of Dale Earnhardt Inc. whose marketing company took over management of NASCAR's on-track diversity effort earlier this year.

Siegel likens the concept to " 'American Idol' meets 'The Contender,' " a boxing-based reality show.

"The objective is three-fold," Siegel said. "To create awareness of the sport in the minority community, to give a marketing platform to these unknown drivers, and to celebrate the accomplishments of women and minorities in the sport currently."

It represents an entirely new tack in NASCAR's six-year campaign to make the faces behind its 800-horsepower racecars look more like that of America.

Launched in 2004, the Drive for Diversity initiative has sputtered more than succeeded.

-- More than 30 young racers have taken part, competing in 18 minor league races each season, but none has landed a full-time job in NASCAR's top three divisions.

-- None of the five drivers in its inaugural class is racing in NASCAR five years later.