Newspapers / The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, … / Feb. 13, 1997, edition 1 / Page 42
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BRIEFS NISSAN CANCELS FRANCHISE AFTER RACIAL SLUR Nissan Motor Corp. USA has canceled a franchise agreement with a Virginia car dealer after he was se cretly videotaped making racial slurs about a black em ployee. Nissan terminated its relationship with Bob Grumpier, owner of Nissan dealerships in Newport News and Portsmouth, VA, days after a local TV station aired the video tape. In the tape, made by another em ployee, Grumpier referred to an African-American main tenance worker as a “nigger.” CM SPONSORS PARADE OF STARS General Motors Gorpora- tion was one of several spon sors of this year’s “Parade of Stars.” The annual television spe cial, which is hosted by singer Lou Rawls, benefits The United Negro Gollege Fund. The star-studded line up in Hollywood and at the ApolloTheater in New York, included: The Isley Brothers, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Take 6, Tevin Gampbell, Maxi Priest, GeGe Peniston and Blackstreet. Since its incep tion in 1979, the “Parade of Stars” has raised millions for 'college tuition at UNGF-as- sisted colleges and universi ties. LETTERS E-MAIL I just wanted to thank you for your won derful advice. At your prompting, I sought to find out about the affordability and prac ticality of getting a Saturn. As I walked into the showroom, I was immediately impressed with its friendly, fam- ily-like atmosphere. My salesman was hon est without being pushy. The simple cour tesy I experienced was, Fm sad to say, unreal. As you have probably guessed, I walked (well, drove) away extremely happy with my newly certified, used Saturn SG2 coupe. The price was right and the features were exactly what I wanted and needed. Before you mentioned Saturn, I had never heard of the company. Now, it is a life-long friend. Hats off to you. Advice like yours is hard to beat. Jennifer Smith, Mitchellville, MD Thanks for the article you published about blacks in motorsports. The information in it was true. 1 have been following (NASGAR) Win ston Gup Racing and the National Hot Rod Association for about 10 years and in that time, I have only seen a couple black drivers in Drag Racing. They were in the “Funny Gar Glass” back in 1989. Their names were Eric Reed and Tony McGallum. Neither had the financial backing they needed to step into the “Upper Glass” tier of the sport. Maurice Dupont drove a few events in the Hammer Time car back in the early 90s (Top Fuel). Gurrenrly, two NBA greats, Tom Hammonds and Larry Nance are trying to break into the toughest class in the motorsports. Pro Stock. Just as the article said, there are no blacks in NASGAR, nor even in the Busch Series. I haven’t seen any in ARGA cither. I don’t know what it will take for blacks to get into motorsports. You would have figured that there would be some blacks in NASGAR by now. Wendell Scott drove in the 50s and 60s, but since then no one else has come along. When you watch basketball, baseball and football, you see blacks. And we’ve finally got ten into the “Upper Glass” sport of golf, thanks to people like Tiger Woods. 1 truly believe that we have the talent in the black community to get to the top in rac ing. We have the drivers, the technicians and the mechanics to do so. The only ingre dient missing is the money. However, that shouldn’t be a big prob lem. If, for example, half of our black ath letes invested a little of their earnings into motorsports, we could do it. And the like lihood of getting a major sponsor would be greater in a group effort. Racing isn’t like most sports. You have to have money to compete and even more to win. You said that many GEOs don’t think we support racing - well, they’re wrong. I hope that we will one day put an Af rican American behind the wheel in NASGAR, NHRA and the IRL or INDY. Joshua Carroll African Americans On Wheeb contin ues to be of high interest. Gongratulations on bringing an exciting idea to life. Jesse DeVore Hale House Center, Inc. New York, NY Just saw your magazine for the first time. Found it very informative and ex citing. Note: Since you informed me that Chrysler is spending more on black adver tising, I will buy a Chrysler product when I purchase a new car soon. Carol T. Allen Washington, D. C. I would like to compliment you on your wonderful publication and encour age you to arrange for me to distribute it on our newsstand. My company Groovin’ GeMs Perfor mance, is both a club for General Motors owners and a retailer of its parts and ac cessories etc. Jesse Fisher-Freeman III Groovin’ GeMs Performance S. Hackensack, NJ e-mail:GroovnGeMs@aoLcom INTERNET Your website came as a complete sur prise to me and I must say I’m really im pressed with what I’ve seen. Over the years, I’ve seen and heard about how much we African Americans support the auto industry and your site is an invaluable resource. As a veteran television photojournal ist, I can’t help but see some good stories for TV here too. drenwick@ix. netcom.com 8 AFRICAN AMF.RICANS ON WHEELS
The Charlotte Post (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Feb. 13, 1997, edition 1
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