The first Black woman to own a NASCAR team completed her first official race Feb. 18.
Melissa Harville-Lebron, CEO of W. M. Stone Enterprises and owner of E2 Northeast Motorsports, and her racing team debuted at Daytona as part of the Camping World Truck Series.
Melissa Harville-Lebron is the first Black woman to own a NASCAR team. (Courtesy photo)
During qualification, Harville-Lebron described her trip to Daytona as a dream coming true.
Her truck, No. 83, was driven by Scott Stenzel, and finished 15th in E2’s first race.
“15th is EXCELLENT For a 1st run and no damage!” Harville-Lebron captioned a photo of the 83 truck returning to its trailer after the race.
Stenzel did not finish the Active Pest Control 200. The team’s next race will be the Stratosphere 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway March 2.
Harville-Lebron anticipated debuting a stock car at the 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series, and announced the creation of a motorcycle division in July 2017.
“Our goal is to impact all forms of motorsports worldwide,” she wrote on her LinkedIn profile.
E2 boasts four Black and Latino drivers; two are Harville-Lebron’s sons: Enico and Eric.
“It’s important for our culture to push generational wealth to our children,” Harville-Lebron told Black Enterprise. “It’s important to lead by example. All too often our children see negative images of our culture and I think it’s very important for people of our culture actually succeeding in business.”