A Nascar Driver’s Deeds Fail to Match Her Words

Tia Norfleet in a photo from her Web site. The only sanctioned race she has entered, racing officials said, was a low-level event last year. 

 CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Nascar, which has long struggled to develop minority and female participants, seemed to have a barrier-breaking athlete in its ranks in recent years: Tia Norfleet, a 20-something driver from Georgia. With a savvy marketing campaign, Norfleet garnered attention in several national publications while promoting her accomplishments as the first African-American woman to race in Nascar.

In speaking engagements with students and in news media interviews, Norfleet has for several years portrayed herself as an accomplished driver in the sport. She has sought sponsorships and  has a PayPal account on her Web site, which includes articles and videos about her achievements.

Her Web site, Tianorfleet34.com, indicates that she intends to compete in a full schedule this season in Nascar’s Nationwide Series, one rung below the top-tier Sprint Cup series.

But Norfleet is not licensed to compete at that level. In fact, the only sanctioned race that Norfleet has entered, according to the sport’s officials, was a low-level event last year at the Motor Mile Speedway in Radford, Va., where she completed one lap before driving onto pit road and parking her racecar.

The discrepancy between Norfleet’s auto racing accomplishments and her public comments, as well as apparent legal issues revealed in court documents, have drawn objections from racing officials.

“I am uncomfortable with Tia representing herself in the way that she has,” said Marcus Jadotte, Nascar’s vice president for public affairs and multicultural development.

When asked Monday about the nature of her competitive career, Norfleet said: “I’ve been racing in nonsanctioned races before. I’ve been racing forever. For as long as I can remember. I race in nonsanctioned races.”

For the past four years, Norfleet has purchased a license to race at the lowest level of stock-car racing. There is no vetting process for such a license; individual racetracks must approve drivers for competition.

To move up to a higher level of competition — a regional touring series like the K&N Pro Series East or the K&N Pro Series West — a driver must earn approval from Nascar. Norfleet has not done that yet.

Meanwhile, publications and Web sites like The Washington Post, The Huffington Post and ESPN have heralded her ascent. “Ms. Norfleet is one of thousands of individuals who have purchased licenses in the Late Model Division of our sport,” Jadotte said in an e-mail. “I am uncomfortable with attempts Ms. Norfleet and her representatives have made to forgo the sport’s development process.”

Nascar officials said they were also concerned with questions about Norfleet’s legal record. Public records indicate that Tia Norfleet’s full name is Shauntia Latrice Norfleet, and that she has a criminal record in Virginia and Georgia. (No public records were found with the name Tia Norfleet.) According to her Web site, her hometown is Augusta, Ga.

Court records show that in 2005 and 2009, Norfleet was found guilty of assault and drug-related offenses. Norfleet did not deny having a criminal record.

“People make mistakes in their life and move forward and make a better way,” she said in a telephone interview. “I think things that I’ve done, people make mistakes, as a child, as a teen, and basically, it’s things that you may not be proud of but you move forward and you help others. And they may be in the same situation and you can relate and they can relate to you, and you help them as much as possible.”

Bobby Norfleet, Tia’s father and a former racecar driver, later said that her comments were not an admission that she was involved in a crime. “Somebody’s got something wrong,” he said. “Somebody’s going to eventually have to write a retraction.”

According to public records, Norfleet is 26 years old. Some news reports earlier this year said she was 24. Tia and Bobby Norfleet refused to confirm her birth date.