Bill Lester
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| Born: | February 6, 1961 (age 46) | |
| Birthplace: |  Washington D.C. |
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| Awards: | ||
| NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Statistics | ||
| 2006 NEXTEL Cup Position: | 111th | |
| Best Cup Position: | 111th - 2006 (NEXTEL Cup) | |
| First Race: | 2006 Golden Corral 500 (Atlanta) | |
| Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
| 0 | 0 | 0 |
| NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Statistics | ||
| Car #, Team | #15 - Billy Ballew Motorsports | |
| 2006 NCTS Position: | 20th | |
| Best NCTS Position: | 13th - 2003 (Craftsman Truck Series) | |
| First Race: | 2000 Line-X 225 (Portland) | |
| Wins | Top Tens | Poles |
| 0 | 6 | 3 |
| All stats current as of January 9, 2007. | ||
Bill Lester (born February 6, 1961) is the driver of the #15 Chevrolet Silverado in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He is the only African-American presently competing full-time in a NASCAR circuit. In 1984, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in EECS from the University of California, Berkeley. Fresh out of college, he worked at Hewlett-Packard for a few years before deciding he wanted to focus on auto racing.
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[edit] Early racing career
He began racing in the road course circuits, running in the SCCA and IMSA series. He made his IMSA debut in 1989 at Sears Point International Raceway, qualifying ninth and finishing 12th in a Chevrolet Camaro. He also picked up a victory that year in an endurance race at Sears Point. In 1990, he began running the SCCA, running an unsported Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme for RocketSports Racing at Portland, and one race for Tom Gloy at Mid-Ohio Speedway. He did not race professionally again until 1996, running SCCA events at Watkins Glen, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Sears Point, and Reno, Nevada. He competed in the 24 Hours of Daytona in 1998 and 1999, finishing fifth and tenth, respectively.
[edit] NASCAR career
In 1999, he became the first African-American to run a Busch Series race, when he ran at Watkins Glen in the #8 Dura Lube Chevrolet Monte Carlo owned by Bobby Hillin, Jr.. He started 24th and ran near a top-ten most of the day before an accident relegated him back to 21st. The next season, he made his Craftsman Truck debut at Portland, starting 31st and finishing 24th in the #23 Red Line Oil truck owned by Team 23 Racing. He also competed against Bobby Norfleet in that race, marking the only time in NASCAR two African-Americans have competed in the same race. He ran 5 races the next season in the #4 for Bobby Hamilton Racing, his best finish an eighteenth at Phoenix International Raceway.
In 2002, he ran in the Craftsman Truck series full-time for Hamilton. While he did not finish in the top-ten, he had sixteen finishes between 11th-18th, leading to a seventeenth place points finish and runner-up to Brendan Gaughan for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year. The next season, he grabbed his first career pole at Lowe's Motor Speedway and had a tenth-place run at Kansas Speedway, garnering a 14th place finish in the championship standings.
He switched over to Bill Davis Racing in 2004. He had a best finish of tenth and finished 22nd in points. In 2005, he won two consecutive poles, and had his first top-five finishes.
Lester raced in his first Nextel Cup race in the Golden Corral 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, driving the #23 Waste Management Dodge Charger for Davis in 2006. The race was supposed to be run on March 19, but was postponed for a day due to rain. He qualified 19th, becoming the first African-American to make a Cup race since 1986, and the sixth in series history. He finished 38th, six laps down. He ran another race that season at Michigan, finishing 32nd.
After failing to finish in the top-ten in 2006, Lester departed Davis to drive the #15 Billy Ballew Motorsports Chevy.
[edit] Personal
Since 1992, he has served as a racing instructor at Infineon Raceway. He now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Cheryl, and their son William Alexander IV (Alex).
