All Blair Addis really intended to do was to pay a power bill deposit.

What Addis, owner of Addis Motorsports, ended up with was sponsorship of his car in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series -- a car that will be driven by Michael Cherry, a beneficiary of NASCAR's Drive for Diversity program.

"It's hard to believe it all came together the way it did," said Cherry, who in 2005 became, at age 16, the youngest driver and the first black driver to win on his home dirt track at East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, Fla.

“

If it wasn't for the Drive for Diversity program, this never could have happened for me.

”

MICHAEL CHERRY

Cherry, now 19, was in the process of moving to Greenville, S.C., from Valrico, Fla., when events were put in motion that now have a chance to have a larger ripple effect on the entire sport. After driving a late model for FDJ Motorsports in the Whelen All-American Series at Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va., in 2008, Cherry caught the attention of Addis during the Drive for Diversity Combine in South Boston, Va., this past October.

"He's just a talent. He's mature for his age. He has excellent car control; that's what I first noticed at the Combine in South Boston. And car control is a big issue with me," said Addis, who won the Greenville Pickens Speedway track championship in 2005. "I just feel like if you have car control and you get yourself into a situation, you can get yourself out of it. He really adapted well to the track in South Boston."

There was more, however. Addis liked the way Cherry, a former child actor who appeared in dozens of television shows, movies and commercials before telling his mother "enough was enough" at age 10, conducted himself off the track as well as on it.

"I felt like he would be an asset to Addis Motorsports for years to come," Addis said. "I think he's a fine young man who will succeed and prosper in this sport."

So he signed him to drive for Addis Motorsports in the Whelen All-American Series, only to discover a short while later that sponsorship from a local restaurant had fallen through. No matter. Addis was determined to have Cherry not only drive for him, but to move him from Florida to Greenville.

A year earlier, while Cherry earned rookie of the year honors in the series at the track in Virginia, he had commuted from Florida for each of his races. Addis didn't want Cherry to have to do that again.

"I felt that he needed to be around the race shop on day-to-day operations," Addis said.

So he located an apartment for Cherry, and headed to a local Nationwide Insurance office where he knew he could place a Duke Power deposit at a pay center. What he didn't know was that he chose the office of a man who would be greatly interested in what he had to say about racing.

Nationwide agent Carlo White, who is black, was no race fan the day Addis walked into his office. But as a member of Nationwide's diversity council for southern states, he already was a big fan of trying to make a difference -- and it wouldn't take long for him to embrace racing as a vehicle for it. (Continued)