Driven by a Dream

In NASCAR’s drive for diversity, the emphasis is usually on drivers. They are in the spotlight, most recognizable by the racing public, and minorities like to point them out.

Just as significant, though, and maybe more significant because they are where the grass roots sprout, are those people of color who make successes of themselves in the less glamorous aspects of racing: mechanics, course workers, manufacturers’ representatives and office help.

Mauricia Grant, 28, known better as Mo, is a case in point.

She is African American, she is personable to the point of bubbling with enthusiasm, she has a degree in sociology -- and she is a mechanic.

She also is a tech inspector at Irwindale Speedway, a member of a crew that inspects race cars before and after they compete each Saturday night, making sure that they comply with track regulations.

Being young, black and female, she has been subjected to all kinds of remarks from drivers, crew chiefs, mechanics and fans as she goes about dismantling cars to check on legal, or illegal, fuel, carburetors and other parts that might be modified to increase performance.

“When I first started at Irwindale as an inspector,” she said, “guys would say, ‘My car has four wheels, is that OK?’ or ‘Are you going to make sure the tires are round?’ Or ‘Have you read the rule book, honey?’ Some were worse than that.

“When they saw I was serious, and knew what I was doing, things changed. Some of them would look at me like I was kind of weird, and were curious as to why I was doing this sort of thing. Once in a while, some guy, even a woman or two, would say something like, ‘You’re too pretty to have your head under the hood.’ I didn’t know how to respond to that. I just shook it off.”

Mo Grant has been shaking things off since she was a little girl growing up in Eastchester Gardens in the Bronx.

“My sisters and I grew up in a three-bedroom apartment, and I had no idea that we were considered poor by economic standards,” she said. “Minus the trauma associated with a deadbeat dad, my childhood was great, thanks to my mother and her decision how to raise us. She came from Jamaica and she is a no-nonsense lady.

“She had to make a choice. Either do what most parents in my old ‘hood did, which was let the streets raise their kids, or keep us in the house, away from the crack vials that littered the streets, away from shootouts and other bad influences that ultimately led to one becoming a statistic.

“The playgrounds were simply too dangerous and overrun by drug dealers. I lived my entire childhood in the same apartment in Eastchester Gardens and can only name a handful of people who lived on my block.”

After finishing high school, Grant enrolled at Spelman College, an expensive, historically black women’s school in Atlanta. When her money ran out, she transferred to the State University of New York at Stony Brook on Long Island, where she earned her sociology degree.

“Three days after graduating, I left and moved to Hollywood,” she said. “A former roommate at Spelman College got me a job at Geneva Films, a video production company. From there I landed a gig as an account associate at Grey Entertainment, an advertising company responsible for promoting all the releases from Warner Bros.

“At first it was great. I enjoyed the action, but one day I sat up and realized that for a week I hadn’t seen a trace of daylight. I felt like my life was passing me by and getting absorbed by a computer. My eyeballs were sore. I quit.”

Grant’s stepfather had been in the construction business, and she remembered how much she’d enjoyed working with him, working with power tools and with hand tools. Robert Torrance, a former instructor at the Los Angeles Urban League Automotive Training Center, told her about no-cost training she could receive there.

“I don’t know if it was by chance, or by destiny, but from the day I enrolled, my life has been a dream,” she said. “I’ve always had a passion for cars and especially speed. When the assistant director of the ATC, Willie James, interviewed me, I told him that I wanted to work in NASCAR as a pit crew member. He was very kind and helped me become an intern at Irwindale. I will always remember his words, ‘Your attitude determines your altitude.’ ”

Between classes, she studied the NASCAR and Irwindale rule books, learning the nuances of racing engines.

“Now I’m an official on the tech team there for NASCAR’s weekly racing series,” she said. “The first day I walked on the track, it was like a dream being actualized. I get there at 9 a.m. every Saturday and don’t leave until 11 p.m., and love every minute of it.”

Her enthusiasm has endeared her to Irwindale officials.

Said Bob DeFazio, track vice president: “Mauricia is a great asset to our officiating crew and to the track in general. Her enthusiasm seems perfectly matched by her ability to learn. We’ve asked the people at the Automotive Training Center to please send us more like her.”

Said Lester Boyer, director of racing: “The best word to describe Mo is ‘sharp.’ She’s not only one of the hardest-working track officials, she’s the most friendly. Tech inspection is always an ‘us-versus-them’ deal, like we’re trying to find something wrong with someone’s race car. In reality, that couldn’t be further from the truth. We just love it when a car sails through the safety and rules compliance inspection. Mo’s smile and the way she does this important job just puts everyone at ease.”

Her next step, she says, is to become a driver.

After she graduated from the ATC at the top of her class, she was given a gift certificate to the driver school at Irwindale by Boyer and Irwindale public relations director Doug Stokes.

“Wasn’t that wonderful?” she said. “I can’t wait. I’m afraid to tell my mother, though. She was really upset when I told her I quit my advertising job to become a mechanic. When she found out it wasn’t just another phase, she came around to my side, but I’m not sure about her wanting her little girl in a race car. I’ll call her from Turn 2.”

Possibly becoming a race driver isn’t all that’s on her agenda. After more studying to earn a master mechanic’s rating, Mo hopes to continue with NASCAR, but also to open her own auto repair shop.

“I’ll call it Foxy’s, sort of the Hooters of auto repair.”