It took nearly a year of preparation and planning, but this week the Drive for Diversity finally saw fruition.

As one of the biggest spectator sports in the United States, with an estimated 75 million fans who follow the action from week to week during the season, stock car racing has grown from its Southeastern U.S. roots. But for all the accomplishments NASCAR has achieved while climbing the ladder of success, it has struggled in one of its most key goals: to mirror the overall American population, both on and off the track.

To put it bluntly, it is still a nearly all-white sport.

That's why NASCAR so readily embraced the Drive for Diversity concept, so that more minorities will not only someday soon be found behind the wheel or on pit road, but also in the stands.

"Our chairman, Brian France, is committed to a long-term goal of achieving much greater diversity throughout NASCAR, both among participants and fans," NASCAR spokesman Andrew Giangola said. "In fact, Brian has made diversity NASCAR's top corporate priority for years to come.

"That's why we think Drive for Diversity is such an important program. What makes it unique and effective is striving to grow the sport at the grassroots level on up. We're looking at an overall broad goal of greater diversification of the driver, crew member and fan base, at the same time also building a pipeline that will steadily supply us with more future drivers and crew members."

Sponsored by the Charlotte, N.C.-based Access Marketing and Communications group, a diverse and multi-cultural organization in its own right, Drive for Diversity provided a venue for 12 aspiring drivers and 28 crew member hopefuls to display their talents and skills on even footing.

"It's like Tiger Woods," said Access general manager Daryl Stewart. "He could go out and play golf, knowing that if he was good enough, there was a way for him to accomplish his dreams. That's what we're providing to combine participants, a way for them to accomplish their dreams."

Beginning last March, combine officials pored over more than 100 resumes and applications -- some from as far away as Italy and South Africa -- to come up with the final by-invitation-only field of 13 driver and 40 crew member aspirants. Of those invited, all but one driver and 12 crew members paid their own way and ventured to Hickory, N.C., to take part in the combine.

	Morty Buckles, left, hopes to join the likes of Dale Earnhardt Jr., right, in the Nextel Cup series.

"The main thing is it gave us an opportunity for access and gave a pretty level playing field to get our talent showcased in front of potential team owners and sponsors," said Morty Buckles, a 32-year-old black driver and veteran of the late model racing ranks from Stone Mountain, Ga., who was one of the drivers that took part in the combine. "I think it went very, very well. It definitely met or exceeded my expectations going in.

"But more importantly, it provided all of us with the opportunity to get into a ride and also into a pipeline that could someday carry us into the higher ranks like Nextel Cup and the Busch Series. Usually, you're digging the pipeline yourself. This laid the pipeline for us."

Drive for Diversity's program was divided into two components, one for drivers and the other for crew members. Crew members spent nearly eight hours in a variety of tests designed to test their mettle in mechanical and physical tasks inherent to working both on pit road and back at a team's shop.

As for the drivers, after being rained out Monday, they came back to the track at Hickory (N.C.) Motor Speedway on Tuesday for a full day of simulated racing tasks, including shaking down a car in a pair of 15-lap sessions, how to approach and successfully master two-lap qualifying sessions, and also dealing with the media.

"We looked at how they adapted and if they got better during the morning and afternoon sessions," said Stewart. "We tried to make the driver position as realistic as possible. We wanted them to be well-versed."

By the end of this month, combine participants will learn if they successfully made the grade, with as many as five of the driver candidates to be placed with teams in NASCAR's Dodge Weekly Series for the upcoming season, as well as up to six crew members joining NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series teams for the upcoming season.

"Now we want to take the crème de la crème of the participants, put them with teams, get them out and showcase their victories and accomplishments," said Stewart. "We kind of look at Drive for Diversity as building an orchard. The combine was the first step where we planted the seeds. Now we have to go out and plant more trees."

Added Buckles, "We were all competitors, but we also all shared information. There was a lot of talk about (being placed with a team). It's definitely going to be a good opportunity for the few of us who are going to be chosen."

Reaching out
Participants ranged from 18 to 39 years old and came from a wide swath of both ethnicity and geography, with residents of California, Illinois, Indiana, New York, Connecticut, Georgia, North and South Carolina among the 40 overall participants.

Likewise, ethnicities and races represented included black Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans and women (including three who were drivers).

"We reached out across racial and gender lines," Stewart said. "We wanted to reach out to as many of the underserved community as possible."

Added NASCAR's Giangola, "Diversity needs to go across a broad spectrum. Our approach is to find, hire and retain the best talent, as well as to strive to mirror the overall general population."

Drive for Diversity is the latest program designed to attract more minorities into stock car racing. NASCAR also has several of its own initiatives, including the NASCAR College Tour, which strives to recruit and place college students with and to work for teams after graduation; as well as the Open Youth Racing school in Philadelphia, where 150 students (with many participants being minorities from the inner city) take part in a 10-week program that emphasizes both motorsports and academics.

Drive for Diversity "far exceeded our expectations," Stewart said. As a result, plans are in the works to host a second combine next year, and perhaps expand both the number and breadth of participation.

"NASCAR is trying to deal with something that is very complex," said Buckles, who has worked as an instructor for the Richard Petty Driving Experience the past two years. "It's going to take more than this to get past this point, but this is a start. For some of us, the combine was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we wanted to make the most of the opportunity given to us. Ultimately, my goal is Nextel Cup. I'm not getting any younger, but I hope in the next few years to be driving a Cup car."

While combine organizers say their long-term goal is to permanently break down all the walls that have kept minorities out of the sport up to now, they also hope that programs such as Drive for Diversity will eventually not be needed any longer, and that minority participation will become automatic and routine.

"I'm working to put myself out of a job in four or five years," Stewart joked. But at the same time, he and NASCAR are both extremely serious about one day reaching a point where future NASCAR drivers, crew members and team officials will be judged solely on their talent, not on their skin color or ethnicity.

"NASCAR is an American sport," Giangola said. "We want to look more like America, to attract more fans and more leadership, especially among minorities, so that the sport can continue to grow. It's the right thing to do and good for everybody."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@MSN.com.