Bill Lester

William Alexander Lester III (born February 6, 1961) is a retired American NASCAR professional racing driver who last competed in the Grand Touring category in the Rolex Sports Car Series for Autohaus Motorsports. In 1984, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in EECS from the University of California, Berkeley.[1] Fresh out of college, he worked at Hewlett-Packard for 15 years before deciding to focus full-time on auto racing.[2]

Bill Lester
Lester in 2008
Born (1961-02-06) February 6, 1961
Washington, D.C.
AchievementsFirst African-American to win an Rolex Sports Car Series race (Virginia International Raceway, 2011, GT Class)
NASCAR Cup Series career
2 races run over 1 year
Best finish68th (2006)
First race2006 Golden Corral 500 (Atlanta)
Last race2006 3M Performance 400 (Michigan)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish111th (1999)
First race1999 Lysol 200 (Watkins Glen)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
142 races run over 8 years
Best finish13th (2003)
First race2000 Line-X 225 (Portland)
Last race2007 Toyota Tundra 200 (Nashville)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 7 3
Rolex Sports Car Series
Years active1998–2001, 2007–2012
Starts52
Wins1
Poles2
Best finish3rd in 2011
Statistics current as of December 2, 2013.

Until 2007, he competed full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, being at the time the only African-American competing full-time in a NASCAR circuit. He also participated in a number of Nextel Cup Series races. From 2008–2010, he competed in the Daytona Prototype category in the Rolex Sports Car Series.

As of 2020 Lester works as a member of the NASCAR National Motorsports Appeals Panel.[3]

Racing career

Early racing career

He began racing in the road course circuits, running in the SCCA and IMSA series. He made his IMSA debut in 1989 at Sears Point International Raceway, qualifying ninth and finishing 12th in a Chevrolet Camaro. He also picked up a victory that year in an endurance race at Sears Point. In 1990, he began running the SCCA, running an unsponsored Oldsmobile Cutlass for Rocketsports at Portland, and one race for Tom Gloy at Mid-Ohio. He did not race professionally again until 1996, running SCCA events at Watkins Glen, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Sears Point, and Reno, Nevada. He competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1998 and 1999, finishing fifth and tenth, respectively.

NASCAR career

In 1999, he became the first African-American to run a Busch Series race, when he ran at Watkins Glen in the No. 8 Dura Lube Chevrolet Monte Carlo owned by Bobby Hillin Jr.. He started 24th and ran near a top-ten most of the day before an accident relegated him back to 21st. The next season, he made his Craftsman Truck debut at Portland, starting 31st and finishing 24th in the No. 23 Red Line Oil truck owned by Team 23 Racing. He also competed against Bobby Norfleet in that race, marking the only time in NASCAR two African-Americans have competed in the same race. He ran five races the next season in the No. 4 for Bobby Hamilton Racing, his best finish an eighteenth at Phoenix International Raceway.

In 2002, he ran in the Craftsman Truck series full-time for Hamilton. While he did not finish in the top-ten, he had sixteen finishes between 11th-18th, leading to a seventeenth-place points finish and runner-up to Brendan Gaughan for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year. The next season, he grabbed his first career pole at Lowe's Motor Speedway and had a tenth-place run at Kansas Speedway, garnering a 14th-place finish in the championship standings.

He switched over to Bill Davis Racing in 2004. He had a best finish of tenth and finished 22nd in points. In 2005, he won two consecutive poles, and had his first top-five finishes. Lester raced in his first Nextel Cup race in the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, driving the No. 23 Waste Management Dodge Charger for Davis in 2006. The race was supposed to be run on March 19, but was postponed for a day due to rain. He qualified 19th, becoming the first African-American to make a Cup race since 1986, and the sixth in series history. He finished 38th, six laps down. He ran another race that season at Michigan, finishing 32nd. He later DNQed at California after spinning in qualifying.

After failing to finish in the top-ten in 2006, Lester departed Davis to drive the No. 15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevy. His best finish was an eighth at Kentucky, when he stepped out of the truck due to sponsor problems. He left NASCAR racing at the end of 2007.

Return to sports cars
2011 Rolex Sports Car Series GT car

In 2008, Lester drove the No. 3 Riley Daytona Prototype for Southard Motorsports in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, partnering with Shane Lewis. He moved to Orbit Racing for 2009, finishing 3rd at the summer Daytona race. The next year, Lester moved to a new team in Starworks Motorsport driving the No. 7 BMW Riley for the full season, finishing 17th in points.

For 2011, Lester moved to the GT category with Autohaus Motorsports and their Chevrolet Camaro team. On May 14, 2011, Lester made sports car history by becoming the first African-American driver to win in any Grand-Am division. Fittingly, Lester won at the Virginia International Raceway, located close to the home of NASCAR's first African-American winner, Wendell Scott.[4]

Personal life

Lester lives in Windermere, Florida with his wife Cheryl, and their sons William Alexander IV (Alex) and Austin Richard.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Nextel Cup Series
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 NNCC Pts
2006 Bill Davis Racing 23 Dodge DAY CAL LVS ATL
38		 BRI MAR TEX PHO TAL RCH DAR CLT DOV POC MCH
32		 SON DAY CHI NHA POC IND GLN MCH BRI CAL
DNQ		 RCH NHA DOV KAN TAL CLT MAR ATL TEX PHO HOM 68th 67

Busch Series
NASCAR Busch Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 NBSC Pts
1999 Robert Hayes Racing 8 Chevy DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR TEX NSV BRI TAL CAL NHA RCH NZH CLT DOV SBO GLN
21		 MLW MYB PPR GTY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR MEM PHO HOM 111th 100

Craftsman Truck Series
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 NCTC Pts
2000 Team 23 Racing 23 Chevy DAY HOM PHO MMR MAR PIR
24		 GTY MEM PPR EVG TEX KEN GLN MLW NHA NZH MCH IRP NSV CIC RCH
DNQ		 DOV TEX CAL 86th 122
2001 Bobby Hamilton Racing 4 Dodge DAY HOM MMR MAR GTY
36		 DAR PPR
20		 DOV TEX MEM MLW KAN KEN NHA IRP NSH
30		 CIC NZH RCH SBO
32		 TEX LVS PHO
18		 CAL 59th 304
2002 8 DAY
18		 DAR
28		 MAR
25		 GTY
17		 PPR
15		 DOV
12		 TEX
11		 MEM
17		 MLW
18		 KAN
29		 KEN
14		 NHA
14		 MCH
15		 IRP
28		 NSH
16		 RCH
36		 TEX
28		 SBO
17		 LVS
17		 CAL
14		 PHO
15		 HOM
18		 17th 2320
2003 DAY
18		 DAR
12		 MMR
13		 MAR
19		 CLT
15		 DOV
11		 TEX
12		 MEM
26		 MLW
12		 KAN
10		 KEN
12		 GTW
22		 MCH
11		 IRP
28		 NSH
16		 BRI
19		 RCH
30		 NHA
13		 CAL
28		 LVS
20		 SBO
23		 TEX
28		 MAR
22		 PHO
20		 HOM
18		 14th 2712
2004 Bill Davis Racing 22 Toyota DAY
16		 ATL
15		 MAR
17		 MFD
30		 CLT
21		 DOV
25		 TEX
12		 MEM
23		 MLW
34		 KAN
28		 KEN
29		 GTW
10		 MCH
18		 IRP
31		 NSH
31		 BRI
14		 RCH
29		 NHA
27		 LVS
24		 CAL
28		 TEX
28		 MAR
14		 PHO
18		 DAR
16		 HOM
24		 22nd 2400
2005 DAY
29		 CAL
16		 ATL
21		 MAR
26		 GTY
12		 MFD
18		 CLT
6		 DOV
30		 TEX
22		 MCH
16		 MLW
15		 KAN
5		 KEN
22		 MEM
35		 IRP
18		 NSH
7		 BRI
25		 RCH
14		 NHA
25		 LVS
32		 MAR
32		 ATL
19		 TEX
11		 PHO
21		 HOM
5		 17th 2672
2006 DAY
35		 CAL
15		 ATL
29		 MAR
24		 GTY
30		 CLT
DNQ		 MFD
24		 DOV
30		 TEX
22		 MCH
33		 MLW
15		 KAN
23		 KEN
28		 MEM
25		 IRP
14		 NSH
21		 BRI
16		 NHA
35		 LVS
19		 TAL
31		 MAR
12		 ATL
22		 TEX
21		 PHO
20		 HOM
11		 20th 2252
2007 Billy Ballew Motorsports 15 Chevy DAY
11		 CAL
20		 ATL
30		 MAR
36		 KAN
16		 CLT
19		 MFD
21		 DOV
35		 TEX
18		 MCH
15		 MLW
24		 MEM
12		 KEN
8		 IRP
16		 NSH
20		 BRI GTW NHA LVS TAL MAR ATL TEX PHO HOM 23rd 1550

References
  1. Biography of William Alexander Lester III, TheHistorymakers.org, March 10, 2018, Retrieved June 24, 2020
  2. Former NASCAR Driver Discusses Competing as a Black Man, NPR Morning Edition, June 24, 2020, Retrieved June 24, 2020
  3. Glendenning, Mark (September 24, 2020). "NASCAR appeals panel upholds Wallace penalty". Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  4. "Action Express Takes Home $25,000 Bounty for Virginia International Raceway Win". MotorRacingNetwork.com. 2013-09-28. Archived from the original on 2012-06-14. Retrieved 2013-12-02.
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