Oakland's Bill Lester NASCAR shot!

One fine day in Oaklnd about 5 years ago I was out looking at open houses, not really to buy more just to look around. I was looking at a nice house in Ridgemont, houses above 580 with great views. As I walked into this house I saw trophies everywhere. All from auto racing, most from the SCCA. I knew some of the east bay SCCA people and wondered if I knew this guy. The house was nice (and priced out of my range) and had a nice 300ZX Turbo in the garage. Hmm I liked whoever this was. A closer look at some photos and trophies showed it was Bill Lester. I never met Bill but had heard he was heading to the east coast to race NASCAR trucks. Well damn how about that.

A big bio and racing history at his Bill Davis Racing page here.

Bill went to Cal's and got an engineering degree. from here:

Lester, the son of Berkeley chemistry professor William Lester, earned his bachelor’s in EECS from Berkeley in 1984. After graduation he worked for Hewlett-Packard for 16 years, the first four of those as an engineer and the next 12 as a project manager. He raced only during the weekends.

“The engineering degree was a means to an end. I wanted to race and Berkeley offered me the education I needed to get a job that would pay for my racing. Also I thought that if the racing didn’t work out, I would have a solid career to fall back on,” he says.

Racing did work out for Lester, who was named rookie of the year for the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Northern California region in 1985. In 1986 he won the SCCA Northern California Road Racing Championship. He quit his high-tech job a few years ago to become a full-time driver for NASCAR, racing in the Craftsman Truck series.

“My Berkeley degree really helped in my racing career. It taught me to think logically, which is great because racing is a very technologically based sport. We use computers to help maximize the performance of our trucks. My degree helps me analyze data and figure out why we get the results we get,” he adds.

Fast forward to today and Bill gets a shot at a NASCAR Cup ride with Bill Davis Racing.

Read on or scroll down to listen to an interview. Go Bill!

I'll update here on how he does.

He's in! and not just in he did really well, he is 19th. That's a great job. The race is Sunday.


from this AP story

HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Bill Lester stole the show from pole-winner Kasey Kahne on Friday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway, earning a spot in the Golden Corral 500 to become the the first black driver to qualify for a race in NASCAR's top series in nearly 20 years.

Driving a Dodge fielded by Bill Davis Racing and facing enormous pressure, the slim, quiet NASCAR truck series regular put up a lap of 190.502 mph early in the Nextel Cup series qualifying session on the 1.5-mile oval.

That was nearly 6 mph faster than he ran in practice. But Lester still had to wait for more than an hour to see if it would be good enough to make it into the 43-car field for Sunday's race.

"I only need to hold my breath for 30 or 35 more drivers," a smiling Lester said after getting out of his car. "I'm just glad I was able to realize my dream and get this opportunity."

The top 35 cars from last season's owners points are guaranteed starting spots at every race, leaving only eight places to the other entries like the 45-year-old Lester, trying to make a Cup race for the first time.

He made it easily, qualifying 19th overall and the fastest of 15 drivers who tried to drive their way into the race.

"It's overwhelming," said Lester, who raced later Friday night in the truck race. "This is the culmination of a very long dream that I've had to race at the top level of motorsports. ... I'm hoping to think that this is the beginning, that it will open a few more eyes and get the attention of corporate America.

"This is quite a feat at my age, but I hope I'm still on the rise," added Lester, the first black man to qualify for a Cup race since Willy T. Ribbs ran three events in 1986, the last in June of that year at Michigan International Speedway.

NASCAR's most successful black driver was Wendell Scott, whose 13-year career spanned 495 races and a landmark victory in 1964.

more at the link above

check out this Oak. Trib article

Getting a shot at history


Lester was a late comer, but even though he did not race competitively until two years after he graduated from Cal and was working for Hewlett Packard, he was bitten by the racing bug very early.

'I remember my dad took me to a road race when I was 8 years old, a Can-Am race at Laguna Seca,' Lester recalled. 'That's what put the bug in me.

'And as soon as I got my driver's license, I was into speed. I started doing a lot of crazy things on the streets.'

Lester recalled someone finally telling him, 'Before I killed myself or got someone else killed, I should take it to the track.'

Two years out of Cal, Lester heeded that advice, racing SCCA competitively for the first time in 1985.




LEXINGTON, KY (March 14, 2006) -- Valvoline, with its 110-year history offirsts in motorsports, is seeking a new first - a historic partnership inNASCAR Nextel Cup competition with driver Bill Lester.

Valvoline will be an associate sponsor on Lester's No. 23 Dodge Charger forthree races - Atlanta (March), Michigan (June) and California (September).The car will carry Valvoline's legendary red, white and blue decal on theB-pillar and Lester will sport the colors on his uniform.

"We have been involved with Bill Lester in the NASCAR Truck Series forseveral years and are extremely excited to have an opportunity to be part ofthis effort to further the diversity of our sport," said Bryan Emrich,Director of Brand Management, for Valvoline. "Bill Lester is a tremendously talented driver and we look forward to partnering with him this year."

Lester, an electrical engineer by training, moved up through the SCCA and Trans-Am ranks to join the NASCAR Truck Series in 2002 in the No. 8 DodgeDealers Ram. He now drives the No. 22 Toyota Tundra, collecting threepoles, two top fives and six top tens during his first four full seasons inthe NASCAR Truck Series.

"This is a great chance for our team to prove that we have what it takes tocompete at the highest level of NASCAR competition," said Bill Lester."Valvoline has been a great partner for us, and I excited to have them withme as we race for a hometown crowd in Atlanta this weekend."


ATLANTA, March 14, 2006 – NASCAR Craftsman Truck SeriesTM driver Bill Lester is poised to drive into history this weekend, piloting the No. 23 Waste Management NASCAR® entry for Bill Davis Racing in the Golden Corral 500 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway (Fox, 1:30 p.m.). Lester, fulfilling a lifelong dream, will be the first black driver to attempt to qualify for a NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race in 20 years.

Lester’s racing career is marked by a series of firsts. He was the first African-American to compete in a NASCAR Busch SeriesTM event in 1999, the first to win a pole for a modern-era NASCAR® race at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in 2003, and the first to lead a top division NASCAR® race in over two decades. He is also one of the few degreed engineers in racing today and is committed to a variety of community initiatives and causes. His outstanding achievements caught the attention of Houston-based Waste Management, who has been a part of Lester’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series team since 2004. Today Waste Management announced that it will step up its commitment to Lester and support his historic run in the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series in 2006.


Having served notice of his speed and ability from the first time he slid behind the wheel of a Craftsman Truck, the 2005 season was a breakout year for Bill Lester. Driving the No. 22 Waste Management Toyota Tundra for Bill Davis Racing, Lester captured back-to-back poles at Kansas Speedway and Kentucky Speedway and was one of the top all-around qualifiers for the entire season. With two poles underscoring his sheer speed, he sat on the front row for 30 percent of his races and in a top-five qualifying slot 50 percent of the time. He also secured four top-10 finishes and the first two top-five finishes of his career last year. To show all that was no fluke, Lester opened the 2006 Craftsman Truck Series season on the front row at Daytona International Speedway by qualifying next to NASCAR star Mark Martin.

His on-track success, determination and competitiveness served notice of his ability, and over the 2005 season, the seeds that would grow into a Nextel Cup ride were planted when both Bill Davis Racing and Atlanta’s Championship Group joined forces to launch an initiative aimed at giving Bill Lester the opportunity to make the move to the Nextel Cup Series. When Waste Management indicated its interest, it completed the picture and for Lester, the partnership is the perfect fit.

“I have spent most of my adult life preparing for this moment,” added Lester. “Two qualifying runs on the same day and two races over the weekend are not going to be an issue, I can promise you that. I’m so excited, I could probably run all three races at AMS that weekend, and then pitch in and help the Waste Management crew straighten the place out afterwards! To have Waste Management on both my Toyota Tundra Truck and Nextel Cup Dodge is terrific, and I will definitely be ‘thinking green’ this weekend.”

Bill Lester’s Waste Management Team is scheduled to compete at Atlanta Motor Speedway, at Michigan Speedway for the Michigan 400 on June 18 and at California Speedway for the Sony HD 500 on September 3. More races are expected to be added to the schedule as Lester’s commitments in the Craftsman Truck Series permit. Atlanta’s Championship Group handles program management and business development, and is expected to announce additional program details later this month.

and

an interview HERE