Black History Month: Lester keeps trucking

It was almost like fate. Each weekend Bill Lester would check his bags, ride the train inside Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to the terminal and board his plane. And there, sitting on the same plane flying out to the same town would be Billy Ballew.

If Ballew was headed to Milwaukee, Lester was, too. California, New Hampshire, Texas -- Ballew and Lester might as well have shared their frequent flyer miles as an owner and driver in the Truck Series.

"We never planned anything together, but we usually had the same time window to make a flight and would end up on the same flight," said Ballew, who like Lester lives in Atlanta. "On the long flights to Phoenix and California and Las Vegas, it's a four-hour flight so it's hard to be still. We're racers, so we talk about racing."

Lester would fly out to meet his No. 22 Bill Davis Racing team for that weekend's race. Ballew would do the same for his own Billy Ballew Motorsports No. 15 team

This weekend, they're headed to Daytona. Together.

"We always talked about how it would be great to race with each other," Lester said. "The opportunity was available, and we took it."

After three years with BDR, Lester packed up at the end of last season and is now paired with Ballew for the 2007 Truck Series season. It's a different setting for Lester, and some may wonder why he left what appeared to be not only a stable Truck Series ride, but also a potential opportunity to get to the Nextel Cup Series.

Last season, Lester became the first black driver in 20 years to qualify for a Cup race when he put BDR's No. 23 in the show at Atlanta. He was the fastest of the eight go-or-go-home drivers, qualifying 18th.

"It was extremely relieving," Lester said as he thought back to the memorable night. "To me it was justification and verification that walking away from my prior professional life and leaving it behind was the right thing to do." (Continued)