Black History Month: Crew breaking barriers

Chris Justice, Calvin Gravely and Mike Harris. Three guys from different backgrounds who find themselves with one thing in common: they are all over-the-wall pit crew members for Brendan Gaughan and the No. 77 team at South Point Racing.

And all three are black. But to the three of them, that's more of a coincidence.

Chris Justice Credit: South Point Racing

Justice gives up pigskin for air gun

You don't hear about guys turning down an opportunity to play professional football for a job in the pits of a Craftsman Truck Series team ... but that's exactly what Chris Justice did.

Justice went from the gridiron to the asphalt, and knows he made the right decision.

"In a sense it was a tough [decision], but at the same time I knew I wanted to continue in racing and the opportunity of working with Brendan Gaughan out-gains the football aspect," Justice said.

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"It is nice to have two other black guys working hand in hand but we raise the flag of racism so much, I think I have the job because I'm qualified," Gravely said. "Its not just about black guys and white guys, we have a compilation of races here at South Point Racing.

"I think my boss pretty much wants to be in Victory Lane. We could have Martians out there and he wouldn't care as long as he was in Victory Lane."

And Gravely is right. Gaughan could care less what race, creed or religion any of his pit crew guys are. He just wants top talent, the kind that will deliver wins on a regular basis.

"This wasn't like a planned deal where I wanted to go do something for the diversity program," Gaughan said. "I hire individuals that are good at what they do. My main concern is having quality people."

Gravely grew up in Martinsville, Va. He worked for a textile plant in town and wanted to see if he could take what he learned at the plant and transform it into a career in NASCAR.

Gravely went into a motorsports program at Patrick Henry Community College. After graduation, he worked in Charlotte and received a call from Gaughan. The driver was looking for a crew member and wanted to know if Gravely was interested.

At first, Gravely had to give it some thought.

"I didn't have a clue who Brendan Gaughan was, didn't have a clue," Gravely said with a laugh. "I was very much interested but two different parts of the country ... Martinsville and Las Vegas. I met Brendan at a test in Daytona and I really liked his guys and we just really hit it off."

The rest is, as they say. history.

Justice and Harris are both graduates of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program. (Continued)