Motor racing-NASCAR scours racing landscape for minority drivers

By Steve Ginsburg

NEW YORK, Nov 27 (Reuters) - NASCAR is actively searching for black and Hispanic drivers to help diversify the historically all-white enterprise, CEO Brian France said on Tuesday.

"We've got programs that are trying to find talented drivers who otherwise would have never had an opportunity to showcase their skills in our sport," said France.

"We're finding African-American drivers and Hispanic drivers out in the short-tracks.

"These programs are creating opportunities for them to get started, come up through the ladder, and hopefully make it to one of our national divisions."

Formula One racing staged a minority breakthrough when Briton Lewis Hamilton, the first black driver to race on the F1 circuit, narrowly lost the 2007 title to Finn Kimi Raikkonen.

There are currently no black NASCAR drivers and the last to run in the series was in 2006. NASCAR said, however, more than 20 percent of its fan base is black or Hispanic.

"We have to do a better job on diversity," France admitted during a wide-ranging interview at the Reuters Media Summit. "That's another growth opportunity for us. We're doing a lot but we have to do more."

France said he was hopeful for "a breakthrough with a driver that three or four years ago we would have never had the opportunity to find.