Retired Dallas Cowboy legend and three-time Super Bowl champion Emmitt Smith has partnered with professional racecar driver Jesse Iwuji to form Jesse Iwuji Motorsports for the upcoming 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. The addition of the two Black men comes nearly a year and a half after Michael Jordan purchased a NASCAR Cup Series Charter with Bubba Wallace as the driver for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Iwuji met Smith last October through a company, Notable Live, that was co-founded by Smith and sponsored Iwuji’s Xfinity car at Texas Motor Speedway. Iwuji, who will become a driver-owner, said Jesse Iwuji Motorsports also will be an “opportunity generating system” intended to bring new faces from untapped areas into NASCAR through team or industry employment.
Since 2015, Iwuji has competed in five Xfinity Series races. Iwuji began exploring team ownership two years ago after recognizing the limits of diversifying NASCAR as a driver, but soon realized that owning a team had no ceiling cap. With a focus on racial equality and improved inclusion in the sport, Iwuji and Smith will use esports and STEM-style initiatives to connect with lower-income communities.
“With the assets that we’ll have by being just basically a NASCAR team, we’ll be able to go into those communities and help them get into the sport through some new ways that are emerging right now. Everyone knows eSports is booming and here to stay. We want to use that as a way to help bring in some folks who are maybe less fortunate and don’t have enough money to train on a go-kart track and buy tires. But what if we are able to bring simulators to these folks to have them train on iRacing? Or have schools get involved by being able to use the STEM engineering side of motorsports and have this be an educational thing with kids?” Iwuji told Nascar.com.
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