Auto Racing | Former NASCAR official files $225 million suit

As an aspiring racing official, Mauricia Grant had grown used to working in a man's world.

When she finally made it into NASCAR, Grant was appalled at the way she says she was treated, beginning from her first day on the job until her firing in October.

Grant is suing NASCAR for $225 million, alleging racial and sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination.

"I loved it. It was a great, exciting, adrenaline-filled job where I worked with fast cars and the best drivers in the world," Grant told The Associated Press. "But there was an ongoing daily pattern [of harassment]. It was the nature of the people I worked with, the people who ran it. It trickled down from the top. It's just the way things are in the garage."

The 32-year-old Grant, who is black, worked as a technical inspector responsible for certifying cars in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series — then known as the Busch Series — from January 2005 until her termination.

In the lawsuit, she alleged she was referred to as "Nappy Headed Mo" and "Queen Sheba," by co-workers, was often told she worked on "colored-people time" and was frightened by one official who routinely made references to the Ku Klux Klan.

In addition, Grant said she was subjected to sexual advances from male co-workers, two of whom allegedly exposed themselves to her, and graphic and lewd jokes.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, lists 23 specific incidents of alleged sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of alleged racial and/or gender discrimination.

NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the organization had not yet reviewed the suit.

"As an equal-opportunity employer, NASCAR is fully committed to the spirit and letter of affirmative-action law," said Poston, adding NASCAR has a zero-tolerance policy for harassment.

In the lawsuit, Grant said she complained numerous times to her supervisors about how she was treated, to no avail.

On one occasion, Grant said Nationwide Series director Joe Balash, her immediate supervisor, was dismissive of her complaints, explaining her co-workers were "former military guys" with a rough sense of humor.

On another occasion, she alleged, Balash participated in harassment.

"Does your workout include an urban obstacle course with a flat-screen TV on your back?" she claimed Balash asked her last year.

NASCAR cited a poor work performance in firing Grant. The suit contends Grant routinely received positive performance reviews.

Note

• NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. added a test session at the Milwaukee Mile to an already intense midweek testing schedule set by team owner Rick Hendrick.

Earnhardt, in his first season with Hendrick Motorsports, admitted he might grumble when he is asked to work more in the middle of the week than he did in previous years. But he also knows it is for a good reason: success.

"I told Rick, 'I'm going to complain, but I'm going to do it anyway,' " Earnhardt said. "And I like to shoot off at the mouth and complain about things, but everybody likes to blow off some steam. I'll test as much as I need to test — whatever we need to do, as well as we need to do."