NASCAR and HBCU are not typically found in the same sentence – let alone the same stadium. On Oct. 17th that all changed.

For the first time in the history of the sport, a college band was invited to play at a race and A&T’s Blue & Gold Marching Machine was offered that honor. The band performed at the NASCAR Banking 500 for over 30 minutes in front of the crowd of nearly 140,000 at Lowes Motor Speedway prior to playing the Star Spangled Banner before a nationally televised audience of over 3 million viewers.

“The largest crowd we had previously played in front of was at the Honda, and that’s about 30,000 people, so this was just amazing,” said Band Director Kenneth Ruff. “This is the largest crowd we’ve played in front of. It was just a great opportunity to be the first HBCU band to perform at an event like this.”

This opportunity’s seeds were first planted back in 2000 when NASCAR began to develop the NASCAR Diversity Council. Within its diversity campaign, the sport has placed a particular emphasis on black colleges and universities. That effort was combined with the Carolina CollegeFest 2009 which was part of the pre-race festivities aimed at college students and a collegiate homecoming atmosphere.

In a statement on NASCAR’s Diversity Council website, Chairman and CEO Brian France states that, “With over 75 million fans, we want our sport to look like America and attract the best talent and the most dedicated fans in the world.”

That Saturday evening, A&T’s band attempted to prove to NASCAR and its fans that they certainly had attracted the best talent.

Staying true to the theme of diversity, the Blue & Gold Marching Machine displayed its wide-ranging repertoire that included Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Beyonce, Luther Vandross, Star Wars, and the Battle Hymn Corral. Though the demographics of the audience were not typical, its warm reception was reminiscent of any halftime show the band has ever performed.

“All I knew of it [NASCAR] was what I learned from Talladega Nights,” said senior biology major and head captain of Golden Delight, Courtney Johnson. “But it’s a part of the culture down there and they love it. I had never been to anything like that before. It was pretty cool.”

Johnson’s “cool” experience that night was rivaled by the even cooler temperatures that dipped into the low 50’s. Many spectators donned heavy coats and thick blankets, more parallel to a Green Bay Packers NFL game than a NASCAR race. But even temperatures did not stop the band from giving the audience a worthy performance.

The blaring sounds of the instruments seemed nearly as loud as a racecar engine and the ladies of Golden Delight kept things warm by sacrificing their jackets for the sake of the performance.

For Jonathan Dula, a senior motorsports major and tenor sax player, there was little he would not sacrifice for the opportunity of being anywhere near a NASCAR race. During the Spring of 2008 Dula participated in an internship at Lowes Motor Speedway where he was able to work the NASCAR All Star race and meet many of the top drivers in the sport. But coming back as a member of the band representing A&T seemed to have meant even more to him.

“We’ve played a lot of places, but this tops the list for me,” said Dula. “When I was doing my internship I heard a drum line play at a NASCAR event and they didn’t sound too good. That’s when my dream started. I told my brother that when I make it up here, I’m gonna show them how a true band plays.”

A long time NASCAR enthusiast, Dula claims television does not do the sport justice, and in order to really experience the sport, people must attend the races.

Although Ruff, a graduate of A&T in 1990, was unable to attend the actual performance, he visited Lowes Motor Speedway while negotiating the deal and was given the privilege of driving his car around the track. After doing so, he admitted that he understands why NASCAR drivers do what they do.

“I just thought it would be good for the band to experience something a little different than what we’re used to,” said Ruff. “It’s easy to stay in a comfort zone, but sometimes you’ve got to step outside of that. If the people before us didn’t branch out we would still be sitting at separate lunch counters. So we owed it to ourselves to make this little piece of history.”

• Malcolm Eustache