Jesse Iwuji

Jesse Ekene Iwuji (born August 12, 1987) is an American professional stock car racing driver and officer in the United States Navy. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, driving the No. 36 for Patriot Motorsports Group, a team which he also owns.

Iwuji attended the United States Naval Academy, where he joined the school's college football and track and field teams. On the former, he was a free safety for the Navy Midshipmen.

Early life and military career
Iwuji attended Hebron High School, where he was a letterman twice in football and three times in track. On the football team, he was a two-star recruit. During his junior year of high school, Iwuji was contacted by the Naval Academy and was offered a scholarship to the school. In addition to continuing his football career at Hebron (where he was named first-team all-district in his senior year), he attended the Naval Academy Preparatory School before heading to the Naval Academy. He formally enrolled at the Academy on June 30, 2005.

Although he played linebacker in high school, he was a free safety on the Navy Midshipmen football team. He played on special teams during his freshman year in 2006 before starting two games at safety in 2007, but missed six games due to ankle injury. In 2008, he played in the Army–Navy Game and the EagleBank Bowl. Iwuji was a backup to Kwesi Mitchell in 2009, though he saw action at strong safety in the season opener against the Ohio State Buckeyes due to Emmett Merchant's injury. Iwuji also competed on the track and field team, where he ran the 60-meter, 100-meter, and 200-meter dashes in addition to the 4 × 100-meter relay.

Iwuji graduated in 2010 as a Bachelor of Science and became a surface warfare officer. After working as a football coach at the Naval Academy Preparatory School, he entered active service. Iwuji worked in mine countermeasures with Mine Countermeasures Crew Exultant and was deployed to Bahrain in 2012. He was later deployed on the USS Comstock, a ship whose name would later appear on an Xfinity Series car when it was featured on Darrell Wallace Jr.'s No. 6 Ford Mustang in 2016. His Naval service concluded in May 2017, when he transitioned to the United States Navy Reserve.

Racing career
While attending the Naval Academy, Iwuji started drag racing at Capitol Speedway in Crofton, Maryland, driving a Chrysler 300. After his graduation from the Naval Academy, he raced a Dodge Challenger. Four years later, he participated in the Mojave Mile speed trial; for the event, he upgraded his Challenger's engine to a horsepower of 1,100. With the new engine, Iwuji ran at a speed of 200.9 mph, becoming the fifth modern Mopar driver to accomplish the feat at the Mojave Mile. Afterwards, he joined the Naval Postgraduate School staff in southern California, where he was involved in road racing – driving a Chevrolet Corvette – before making the transition to stock cars.

In 2014, Iwuji tested a stock car for Performance P-1 Motorsports at Irwindale Speedway. A year later, he began racing for the team after returning from deployment in the Persian Gulf. He first competed in the Whelen All-American Series, finishing 15th in his debut. He also made two K&N Pro Series West starts that year at Evergreen Speedway, but did not start the race. He later ran the race at Meridian Speedway, finishing 23rd after a crash. In the winter, he ran 34 dirt track races, one of which included a fifth-place finish in a Winged 500cc Outlaw Kart A-main.

Iwuji started competing full-time in the K&N Pro Series West in 2016, driving the No. 36 for Patriot Motorsports Group. That year, he was named to the "Mighty 25: Veterans poised for impact in 2016" list by military website We Are The Mighty. He recorded a best finish of tenth at Orange Show Speedway. At the Utah Motorsports Campus race, he earned the Move of the Race Award, which is given to the driver who gains the most positions in a race. During the year, he also competed in the NAPA Big 5 Late Model Series at Meridian Speedway. Iwuji battled with Todd Gilliland and Salvatore Iovino for the K&N Pro Series West's 2016 Most Popular Driver Award, but lost to Iovino. He finished the season tenth in the final point standings and sixth the rookie standings. In February 2017, Iwuji was awarded the NASCAR Diverse Driver Award, which is given to a minority/female driver who "exemplifies outstanding performance both on and off the race track in encouraging awareness and interaction with NASCAR and motorsports".

Prior to the 2017 season, Iwuji became Patriot Motorsports Group's primary owner, while former National Football League linebacker Shawne Merriman partnered with the team to serve as owner of the No. 36 car. The two met during a fashion show in Los Angeles promoting Merriman's new clothing line; Merriman, a longtime motorsports fan, agreed to join PMG. Over the course of the season, Iwuji continued to race Outlaw Karts to develop his racing ability on both dirt and asphalt. In February, he ran his first K&N Pro Series East race in the season opener at New Smyrna Speedway, in which he finished 21st.

Personal life
Iwuji is of Igbo descent, an ethnic group of people in Nigeria. His parents immigrated to the United States in the 1980s. As of 2017, Iwuji is one of three African-American drivers actively competing in a NASCAR series along with Wallace and Pro Series East driver Jay Beasley.

He is involved in various philanthropic and military-related activities. He is the racing ambassador for the Phoenix Patriot Foundation, a group formed after the September 11 attacks to support wounded soldiers. "We dedicate each race weekend to a wounded veteran and his family," Iwuji stated. "The effort has been widely supported by race officials and others. It's an opportunity for everyone to give back to the people who've made a sacrifice on their behalf." In March 2016, he drove a four-year-old boy with terminal cancer in a two-seat stock car. In May, he served as a host for a veteran's family prior to the Coca-Cola 600; as part of the NASCAR Salutes program, which honors United States military personnel, he was a guest co-host of NASCAR.com's GarageCam series.

NASCAR
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )

K&N Pro Series East
$$ Season still in progress $1$ Ineligible for series points