It has been an equally tough sell to corporate sponsors, who have been slow to embrace minority drivers.

Three years after the episode, both houses passed a law that prohibits police officers from pulling over minority drivers who are not breaking any law.

Two in five residents, including more than 80 percent of blacks, said the state police treated minority drivers worse than white drivers.

Davis is young, but he is experienced, which sets him apart from almost every other minority driver in the sport.

Nascar has no particular developmental programs to attract and train minority drivers.

The troopers said in court that they had been coached by superiors to single out minority drivers.

A judge there found that troopers illegally stopped a disproportionate number of minority drivers.

Two years ago, no police department in the country collected sufficiently detailed records of traffic stops to show whether officers were targeting minority drivers.

The new report found that although minority drivers made up less than half the motorists stopped, they represented 77 percent of those searched.

The troopers who testified today said they were under pressure to stop minority drivers.