Chutegate 9 - "Red Bandana"
Chutegate 9 - "Cadillac Cowboy"
Music and sports have always been the two loves of Corey Leas life. As a former professional baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and an aspiring Country singer in Nashville, TN, Lea has seen first-hand the ups and downs of both of these fiercely competitive industries.
Now, Coreys own experience has come full circle. This year, he joined Start Your Dreams Inc. as Executive Assistant to the Chairman. The organization a marketing and branding firm, has set its sights on increasing diversity in NASCAR by bringing a viable motorsports program to Winston Salem State University (WSSU) and other historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The program will concentrate solely on building motorsports professionals through education and raising the visibility of African-Americans in motorsports. The effort has already attracted the enthusiastic support of many top African-American leaders including Thurman Exum, Dr. Jim Logan, Rick Clark and Atlanta attorney John Christmas all experts in the field of NASCAR.
Ironically, NASCAR, the nations fastest-growing sport, is one of the few pro sports with very little African-American involvement and Start Your Dreams Inc. hopes to change that. The reaction I get from other African-Americans on this is kind of like the Tiger Woods effect in golf, Lea says. The comment is, If they ever get a black team or a black driver, Id be right behind you.
If you can teach aspiring professionals about motorsports, they can form their own teams or join other teams, Lea says. With my background, Im not only knowledgeable about pro sports, but Im connected to people in-the-know.
"I'm not interested in an industry's idea of diversifying, Lea says. It seems every time you wait, another generation is lost. Charley Pride sold over 70 million albums in the midst of overt racial tension - wouldn't you think that in 2005 the CD-buying-public is ready? I know how to get my music to the fans youve got to understand who pays the bills on radio says Lea. Corporate America is looking to capitalize on the more than $700 billion that African-Americans spend on goods and services in our country annually. Thats what is driving the NASCAR Diversity Initiative - they are looking for a way to increase sales. All I can say is this - when all this smoke clears, I'll be there."
Ive had the chance to live my dream through sports, Lea says. Now I need to take that and apply it to something I never would have done in a million years. To make other people realize their dreams, to take someone with no hope and give them hope, and to be able to support them - thats more gratifying than anything.
Leas own personal journey began in rural Virginia, where he spent his first 10 years. All my uncles and aunts lived next door, so it was like one big day care, he says, smiling. Those uncles were part of a Gospel group, the Sons of Faith, and are still performing today. Young Corey adored the tight Southern Gospel sounds of the Sons of Faith, and marveled at the way one of his uncles would gather all the neighborhood kids together to sing harmony.
Lea began playing Little League football at age 7, idolizing Tony Dorsett of the Dallas Cowboys. He played quarterback and wide receiver. He also loved baseball, especially Hank Aaron and the old Negro League stars, like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson. Corey pitched and played the outfield.
When Corey was 10, his family moved to Greensboro, NC, which Corey describes as the polar opposite of where hed been born. But, he was active in both music and sports at middle school in Greensboro, playing trumpet and drums in the marching band (I was a band geek, jokes Lea) and excelling in football and baseball. My first love was football. I was probably better at football than anything else, he says.
After starting college at North Carolina A&T, Corey signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1992 to play pro baseball. The Pirates sent him to play rookie league in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada - way up north in the Pioneer League. During the long bus rides on road trips, Coreys manager would play singer George Straits tapes on the bus. Hey Corey, sing this song, his teammates would call out, because Lea was one of the only Lethbridge players who knew Country music.
During the teams trips to Billings, Montana, Corey noticed that many of the most beautiful women at the all-night restaurants had just come from the citys popular rodeo events. That sparked his interest in one of the most physically demanding and dangerous sports in the world - pro rodeo.
Corey, who ran a blistering 6.3 in the 60-yard dash, spent the 1994 season with the Pirates Augusta, GA farm club, but his contract was not renewed at years end. I was sour on baseball after that, and didnt even watch a game on TV for years, he says. People dont realize the politics that go on in baseball. Every year, teams draft 50 new players, and at the big-league level the top players all have guaranteed contracts. That makes for a real logjam.
So, Lea returned to North Carolina A&T and completed his college education with a degree in Business Administration. He ran a car dealership for a while and started a garage band called Livestock. At long last, he had time to devote to his music and to rodeo, and quickly became an avid calf-roper. In the third rodeo he entered, he took home his first well-earned paycheck. Im obsessed with winning, he says. I kind of take it as a challenge.
After that, Corey moved to Nashville to try to make it in Country music, but instead encountered some serious roadblocks. Based on the history of Country music, other than Charley Pride, African-Americans just dont get any visibility.
Meanwhile, growing up in the Triad area of North Carolina (Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point), Lea was smack dab in the middle of the NASCAR world. He watched some of the races, and loved classic drivers like the late Neil Bonnett and the great Cale Yarbrough.
This combination of influences gave Corey an idea: Why not begin playing his rodeo-flavored Country music at NASCAR events? Country music, he figured, had an audience of about 35 million listeners, but NASCAR was far bigger with roughly 80 million fans. And thus, the Motorsports Experience was born.
Conceptually, the Motorsports Experience will be a traveling show, offering fans a glimpse inside NASCAR. The show will feature simulators, show cars and pit crew challenges, all topped off with a great concert at the end of the night.
Lea sums it up by injecting a little of his own personal swagger, Ive been summoned by the Mythical Cowboy Association and the American Honky Tonk Bar Association to give them something that Music Row has forgotten how to make in the last 8-12 yearsthats real Country music, but with a touch of soul.
Its a dream team, all in one person Corey Lea.
