Michael Mauldin and Lightning with Kyle Petty.

Staff Reports

One of the NASCAR fans featured in the critically acclaimed new book, The Weekend Starts on Wednesday, is N. C. native Michael Mauldin. A music impresario who has been a leading figure making the southeast a center for hip-hop music, Mauldin also happens to be a passionate, long-time NASCAR fan who can reminisce for hours about cars and what they’ve meant to his life. Originally from Murphy, N.C., he became the first African American president of Columbia Records.

But Mauldin started out “a car guy,” the eldest son of a long-haul trucker (and local moon-shining legend) named Lightning. He attends many races each season, working to bridge the gap between the sport and an urban audience made up of guys like himself, fascinated with fast, loud, mean, gorgeous, gleaming American-made automobiles. Through his “Fast Life” brand, he’s now working to bring local drag racing — among young people using their own cars — to Atlanta Motor Speedway; he’s also founded the “Urban Speed Association,” which mixes motorsports and modern music.