On the latest episode of Listen In With KNN on Fox Sports 1340AM, host Kelsey Nicole Nelson welcomed LCDR NASCAR Driver and U.S. Navy Reserve Officer Jesse Iwuji to the show.
Speaking of his journey, he was raised in Dallas, Texas as the son of Nigerian immigrants. While in high school, Iwuji had aspirations of being a college football player and got recruited by the Naval Academy. He graduated in 2010 after playing all four years with the Navy and then became a Service War Officer.
Iwuji spent four years on two different deployments in the Arabian Gulf. During that time, he developed a passion for cars and racing. In January 2014, he was sitting in his room and decided he wanted to become a race car driver. This would be another challenge for the Texas native as he would become one of two African American drivers in NASCAR.
“To be able to be the one who has that torch and paving the way for those coming after us is pretty cool. It’s something I’ve had throughout my whole life being in the Navy, serving and leading sailors, marines and all people. Having the opportunity to even have this platform has been a huge blessing and I definitely don’t want to squander it,” Iwuji said.
When he started racing in 2015, he found out that it wasn’t cheap despite making decent money as an Officer in the Navy. Iwuji had to find a way to get extra money.
“I started my own business and hosted racing events at different tracks in California. The money I made from that was what I used to help launch my racing career. We have a trucking company where we have semi-trucks on the road and now we’re getting into some Real Estate stuff,” he said. “I’m just trying to build a small empire to have my name all over the place.”
Recently, NASCAR has been doing a lot of things to appeal to minorities like banning the Confederate flag at their races. Iwuji vividly remembers going to his first race and seeing people with the Confederate flags but never let it affect him.
“It never made me think twice and that was right before I even got into racing. I need to be one of those different ones who brings that different voice of unity. A house divided will fall but a house united will rise,” he said.
Iwuji advises those who want to be a driver to not only learn how to drive on the track but to market yourself for a brand.
“That’s going to get you on track because they’re going to give you the funding you need. Some people get very fortunate and a team will just pick them up because they have a sponsor. Go find the money and that will make things a lot easier to get on track.”
