1on1: Billy Mauldin Jr.

Motor Racing Outreach was founded by Max Helton in 1988 to serve as a ministry for NASCAR drivers and teams who cannot attend regular church services on Sundays. The program proved to be so successful that affiliated programs now serve many forms of motorsports.

In addition, MRO provides activities and meeting places for spouses and children of the racing community at each track on the circuit.

Billy Mauldin Jr., current president and CEO of Motor Racing Outreach, stopped by at Atlanta Motor Speedway to answer a few questions about MRO and how he got involved in the ministry.

Q: How does one get the calling to work at a ministry where the congregation is literally on the move every weekend?

Mauldin: For me, it was a series of relationships. I was working at a church in Charlotte, and one of the kids in the youth group I was working with, their parents worked in racing. And it was through that I was introduced to Max Helton and Motor Racing Outreach. I began as a volunteer. And after volunteering and working for about five years, I had the opportunity to become part of this program full time in 1999 and have been with it ever since.

So it's like a lot of things in life. It was through relationships. Of course, I personally have the heart for people and do whatever I can to help them. This provided that as well.

Q: It's unusual in that unlike a typical church, your ministry and the congregation move from place to place each Sunday. How does that affect your work?

Mauldin: The church is mobile, obviously, traveling from track to track. But how we look at it is we build community by being a hub of activities and relationships. [At Atlanta], we had a fall festival where we can bring the parents and kids together. And when we do that, that's when the community and unity begins to take place. Where we meet together to have chapel is irrelevant. It's where we all want to be together.

Q: This sport's season is so long -- 40 weeks -- and the teams are on the road so much. How much does MRO help families stay together under difficult circumstances.

Mauldin: The sport is so emotional. You have such highs and such lows. One day can be a great day for you and the next can be a tough day. When you have those emotional swings, back and forth like that, to be able to have something like this here that enables your family to be with you, it helps you to keep everything in perspective.

Everybody has a bad day. If I have a bad day, at home, there's my three kids waiting for me at the door. It kind of brings everything back into perspective. It doesn't mean you're still not frustrated or disappointed or whatever. But being able to have your family with you and others that you care about, it helps you to cope with things.

Q: Many people think of MRO as just the Sunday morning chapel, but there's a lot more to the ministry than that, correct?

Mauldin: What most people know about is the chapel service we do right after the driver's meeting. But really, I started this morning at 6:30 a.m., in the media compound, doing a chapel for those folks who have to start much earlier. Another one of our employees was doing a chapel service for the vendors out on vendor row. At 8:30 a.m., I came back here and did one for the coach drivers, because they can't normally get to the other chapels. In addition to that, we'll have the children's program that will be going on throughout the day.

And then we'll just be in the garage area, hanging out, so that if somebody just wants to talk -- particularly a crew guy -- it's hard sometimes to break away from your work, so that if we're present there in the garage area, they can just grab us and say, "If nothing else, pray for me." Or they may want to talk a little bit more about something that's going on in their lives. So it's just being present, that's really the key to it.

Q: In almost a decade of doing this, what's the most unusual thing about the job?

Mauldin: Well, we're celebrating our 20th anniversary this year, actually. Probably one of the most difficult things is when we lose somebody in the community. And I'm not talking just about someone on the track. This has been a very difficult year for officials, especially. Our hearts really go out to that group of folks this year. It seems like it's been an ongoing issue for them. Those are the things that are difficult for all of us. But those are the times that we hope and we pray that our presence is most helpful.

On a personal note, one of the things that sticks out in my mind was the first time I ever went to Talladega with MRO. I was invited to do the invocation to start the race, and I had never done that before. I was standing there at the start/finish line -- and everything had pulled away except for me and the national anthem singer. This was about 15 years ago. And the announcer says, "Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the national anthem and invocation." And I was standing there, and saw these 100,000-plus people all at once, as far as the eyes could see. And I thought to myself, "Oh, my gosh!" I can't even tell you today what I prayed. I was so in awe. And it's just the way this sport is.

Anybody who's never had a chance to see it and be a part of it doesn't know what they're missing. Just come to the race, come to the track one time and get a feel for what this place is like on race day. It's electric. And for us, we have the added bonus of being able to know the people a little bit more personally, behind the scenes. And this is a great bunch of folks.