Broussard Able to Forget Race and Go Racing

Clarence Broussard of Sylmar can best be described as a cross between Wendell Scott and Joe Gibbs.

Broussard is following the trail blazed by Gibbs to NASCAR race-car ownership from football coaching, and looking to follow Scott’s tire tracks as an African American in a sport with roots in the pre-civil rights era South.

“I was a racing fan back when I was at [Compton] Centennial High [class of 1962],” said Broussard, who coached Heisman Trophy winner Charles White and football Coach Sean Blunt of San Fernando High in the North Valley Golden Bears Pop Warner football program.

“I was probably the only one in my neighborhood who knew what NASCAR racing was all about.”

Broussard has formed a team to compete in the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest tour, which stops at Cajon Raceway in El Cajon on Saturday night for the Coors Light 125. His driver is Troy Adams of Riverside, an African American whose family operates Adams Kart Track.

Adams, 31, grew up racing go-karts, raced two seasons of spec trucks and served as a driving instructor for the Richard Petty Driving experience before signing with Broussard in June, 2000.

He failed to qualify for the season-opener Feb. 4 at Phoenix but entered three Southwest Tour races in 2000, finishing 27th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The team has no primary sponsor, but Broussard is committed to funding three full seasons in the Southwest Tour, then moving to a higher division. He believes his team should prove it belongs on the track and has turned down offers to put Adams in a NASCAR Winston West car or a NASCAR Craftsman Truck.

“We’ve been getting calls, not because we’re good, but because we’re novelties, and I don’t want that,” he said. “Yes, we want to be an African American team, and yes, we want to be an African American team in Winston Cup, and yes, we want to win in Winston Cup.”

Broussard said he enjoys NASCAR because it is the most competitive of sports and there are other ways to win without having the fastest car.

“I played a little high school football, and I’ve been around college and professional football,” Broussard said. “Joe Gibbs would probably tell you the same thing, that this is the toughest sport to coach in.

“Your blood is racing the entire time, because every lap there is something different happening.”

Broussard said car racing has changed from when he attended races at Saugus Speedway in 1970.

“I remember going to Saugus and getting looks like ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ ” Broussard said. “I was so impressed by the attitude [now], because it’s so different from the ‘60s and ‘70s that it’s hard to believe it’s the same country.”

Larry Krieger of Thousand Oaks, who died Feb. 17 from an untreatable brain infection, was responsible for Broussard’s return to racing after Broussard took a hiatus from sports to focus on building his construction management company.

Krieger made his living as a passenger car mechanic, and Broussard was one of his clients. Neither knew of the other’s interest in racing at first.

Krieger and Broussard joined forces in 1999 to compete in the Grand American modified division at Irwindale Speedway’s inaugural season, and Krieger won four of six races and the track championship.

“Larry was the reason I got back into racing,” Broussard said. “If they hadn’t built Irwindale, I would not have gotten back into racing. The attitude is so different, where everybody treats you like you’re supposed to be there.

“The first time we went out to Irwindale, Larry said I needed to let them know we have a black owner. I said, ‘No, no,’ and they were like, ‘You’re racers, now let’s go play.’ ”

Broussard’s team was welcomed into the racing family with open arms, and plenty of offers of help. He knew Chatsworth chassis-builder Keith Spangler from his days of attending races at Saugus.

Orleans racing, a NASCAR Winston West team owned by former driver Bill MacAnally and casino-owner Michael Gaughan, invited Broussard’s entire crew to service the car driven by Daytona 500 champion Michael Waltrip in the NAPA 300 on March 1 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Broussard believes minorities will embrace NASCAR racing as a result of the increasing diversity.

“NASCAR is a working-class sport, and most minorities are working-class people,” he said. “As soon as they discover that the door is open, they will come in and they will come back.”

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