NASCAR looked outside the racing world for its new president of Phoenix Raceway. What it found was a passionate, homegrown professional focused on creating and building relationships for the benefit of racers, fans, sponsors, and the motorsports community at large.

It’s rare for a racing organization to select someone outside the racing scene for a critically important position, but there’s method to NASCAR’s madness. To carry Phoenix Raceway forward, they selected Latasha Causey, who brings a wealth of experience from the Phoenix business community to the job. The racing industry is increasingly aware of its interdependence with the larger business ecosystem, and along with her organizational and management chops, Causey brings a comprehensive network of contacts to connect the track to the greater Phoenix business circle. 

Causey’s career has focused on business outreach, from her time as an executive director with USAA insurance to her most recent position as VP and community development officer with Bell Bank. Through it all, her specialty is bringing businesses to the table to commit resources to the greater benefit of the Phoenix metro area. That’s a key skill for any track manager in the 21st century. It builds relationships and understanding of a track as a key player in the vitality of a city or town. 

Causey is also the second woman in a row to run Phoenix’s racing operations, succeeding Julie Giese, who has gone east to manage the NASCAR Chicago Street Course event. As a Phoenix native, Causey has deep roots in Arizona and a passion to see the city and the racing facility thrive. She started that process as a member of the NASCAR Accelerators, a collective effort to promote NASCAR activities at the raceway. We sat down to ask her how she’s putting all this experience to work in taking the raceway to the next level in partnership with other stakeholders in the business community. 

PRI: Let’s dive right in. After a career in insurance and banking, how did you find yourself working in racing? 

Causey: My background is more as a community development type of person and a relationship person. But more personally, what you don’t see is that I’m a huge sports advocate. I love everything that’s associated with sports and motorsports. I just love the energy! You go to a race, and it’s all about the experience and the people. I think that motorsports probably has the most committed fans, as well as momentum. 

I’m definitely a fun, energetic type of person. But also at the same time, I am a business person. I have the ability to continue the momentum that has been going on here at Phoenix Raceway. 

PRI: Coming in from the outside, has anything really surprised you since you took over the job?

Causey: No, nothing seems odd or confusing. You know, I think the one surprise has been the relationships across the board. When you really get to know the teams, you get to know the people that are involved in racing. It’s such a family sport, whether you’re related or not.

It has been such a nice surprise to see the number of people in NASCAR and racing who want to make sure that we’re all successful together. That’s not something that you normally see in everyday business. You have competition, but while there are competitors in the racing world, everyone wants it to be fun, wants it to be a great experience, and wants everyone to continue to thrive. 

PRI: Have you felt well-supported by the NASCAR organization as you transition into this job?

Causey: Yes, absolutely. Everyone from [NASCAR President] Steve Phelps all the way to my peers and individuals who work alongside me, it has been such a great welcome. You mentioned at the beginning that I didn’t have a ton of motor racing in my background. And there are a lot of people at NASCAR who do. But the excitement and the welcome from individuals to someone with a different perspective and a different lens and a different light has been amazing. They have all been very welcoming and collaborative working with me as we continue to do great things.

PRI: Speaking of great things, what do you most want to achieve there at Phoenix Raceway?

Causey: Well, you know I’ve been in my job for a whole six weeks, right? [This interview took place in January 2023.] The first thing I want to do is get to know the fans. I said a little bit earlier that the fans are different with NASCAR. They are so committed to the sport. If you come to a race in Arizona, you’re traveling. They’re not necessarily from Arizona. They come from all over the place to see the races that they’d like to see. I think that’s special.

I want to ask them, what else can we do? What can we do to keep the fans coming? Also, for me to be the first African American woman in this type of leadership role, I can’t miss the opportunity to say that I would love to be able to get young kids of color involved in the sport. To get them to a track and get them to see the sport early. I’d like to create some partnerships there because we know that representation matters, and so when they see someone like me in this role or at a race track, maybe they will want to come along, too. So I’m looking forward to integrating a more diverse fan base. To keep the fans that we currently have and integrating others so that they know that they are welcome in the sport, welcome at the track.

PRI: Are you planning any physical changes like repaving the track or building new garages or anything like that?

Causey: We just reimagined the facility back in 2018 to make sure that it is state of the art. I’m not saying that there isn’t an opportunity to do more, but right now we’re just getting started. So I can’t say that I have a plan to redo, knock down, tear down, or add anything additional at this time. But we will continue to make sure that we keep up with what has been happening over the past few years.

PRI: Let’s take a step back and look at your previous experience. What are you bringing from your career to your new role that maybe somebody who came up through racing wouldn’t necessarily have?

Causey: I think we all have our unique talents. What I bring that is unique, first and foremost, is that I’m a Phoenix native, and that makes a difference in knowing the community. I was born and raised here in the West Valley, not too far from the race track. Then from an experience standpoint, being in business for so long, I came from a human resources background as well as banking, and then community development.

So being able to bring all of those things and all of those talents together allows me the ability to be able to see people differently. Whether that’s my HR experience or building relationships, I have a unique and diverse network of individuals. It takes people to make all sports go. If we don’t have fans, if we don’t have people in the seats, then we don’t have racing. So it’s really about me being able to bring my business networking experience and all of the things that I have done over the last 20 years in this market. I know this market because I’ve lived it and embraced it my entire life.

PRI: Do you have goals that have been set for you by the NASCAR organization or that you have set for yourself for the next five years and into the long term, whether that’s fan growth or more events or anything like that?

Causey: Being six weeks into the job, when I think about year one, it’s about getting to know the people, not just the fans, but the people that are here and within NASCAR on my team. Relationships are key, both internal and external. It’s really about that. I’m a very curious person, so if you interview me one year from now, while I won’t be a motorsports expert, I will have some pretty good knowledge about motorsports because for me it’s important to get out there to see it and touch it.

I will be traveling to some key races and meeting the key players within the industry. It’s really about me getting to know what I can do and how I can put my stamp on this role and on Phoenix Raceway. I can’t just come in and say, ‘Here’s what we’re gonna change.’ I don’t know what needs to be changed, and I don’t know what we need to add without listening. So I’m going on that ‘year of listening’ tour. I’m definitely going to make sure to do that. 

The other thing is making sure that I welcome people into the raceway. I’ve been here for six weeks, and I’ve already had six tours of individuals who had never been to the raceway, and some of them are pretty heavy hitters within the community. That’s just from that network where people are really excited about me being in this role. They tell me they forgot about Phoenix Raceway, but they’d love to come and see what we have going on here. There doesn’t have to be a race going on for them to see the track, and I want them to know that. I want them to know that we have other events going on 12 months of the year.

I also want the community to know that they can have events at Phoenix Raceway as well. I want to open up our home to this market, to the community, and to the fans. Within the first year, I want to be branding us within the community so that people can get very, very excited about motorsports. In the first year I would love to be able to say that we got some really cool new fans to go alongside the really great fans that we already have.

PRI: What are those events other than auto racing that you plan to have there at the track?

Causey: We already have some really great events. We have at least 13 Electronic Dance Music concerts planned for the year. Then we have sports competitions that are here, and some nonprofits host their events at the track. We have a great partnership with Luke Air Force Base. They have some events here as well. So it’s making sure that both the for-profit and the not-for-profit communities know us, and we want to have some entertainment here. Who knows, maybe in a couple of years we’ll have a really big music festival here? That’s just on my dart board somewhere. We are open to all events that make sense. 

PRI: What are the two or three most pressing concerns that you have at Phoenix Raceway? 

Causey: Honestly right now I can’t say that we have any pressing concerns. I mentioned that we redid the facility back in 2018, and we have had really, really great experience with being able to sell out. Like, last year we were sold out for the championship race in May. So we have really high expectations. I guess if there are any concerns or things that we have to keep up with, it’s our high expectations. How do we make sure that we keep that momentum? 

PRI: Getting back to some things we talked about earlier, what do you think the motorsports community can do to reach out and encourage people of color and underserved communities to get involved, whether as fans or participants?

Causey: It’s about starting early. There are a couple of organizations, like the Urban School of Racing, that are in motorsports. We can make partnerships with local schools and nonprofits to let kids know about motorsports. One of the things that kids know really well is video games, and we know that we have tons of simulators in the racing space. So we want to make sure that we introduce kids early. It’s also doing things like having conversations with certain organizations to let them know what we have here. We want to get the word out in front of those groups and make sure that they feel really comfortable when they come here. NASCAR as a whole has done things like getting rid of the Confederate flag, and that helps.

Those types of things open up doors for other individuals to feel comfortable to come into a track, any track, not just Phoenix Raceway. NASCAR led from the front doing that, and our team here in Phoenix will continue to do that.

PRI: Do you have any plans or programs to get tickets into people’s hands who might not be able to afford them otherwise?

Causey: We do that now. We partner with organizations like the Phoenix NASCAR Accelerators, which is our nonprofit space where we raise money from various avenues, and we can gift those funds out to nonprofits. We partner with organizations like the Boys and Girls Clubs and other organizations. Through those partnerships, they’re able to get discounted or free tickets through the nonprofit.

PRI: My next question was about the NASCAR Accelerators. Let’s dive into how that got started and what it does. 

Causey: Absolutely. This was something that Julie Giese created when she moved here to Phoenix. One of the things Julie worked on was creating a committee of business leaders, individuals in the community who could serve as ambassadors for NASCAR. Really it was the ability to create this group who would talk to other people about motorsports.

The Accelerators helped raise some funds to invest into the community as well. I plan to continue the Accelerators. Right now, there’s about 30 people, anywhere from small business owners to some large business leaders and a couple elected officials. We have a wide variety of individuals who are interested in motorsports and in making sure that the raceway is successful.

So not only do they donate money or in-kind donations themselves, but they go out and raise awareness. A lot of times those business leaders can get people to open their checkbooks, who maybe wouldn’t otherwise.

PRI: Are there any people, individuals or organizations, who you particularly seek to emulate personally and professionally? 

Causey: I’ve had a lot of mentors throughout my career, and I have picked up something from each of them. One of the things that is key for me is making sure of the values that I have and the way that I lead. I’m a servant leader. If I need to get out there and sweep the raceway, I’m out there sweeping the raceway with the team. It’s about making sure that I am in there doing the job that the team is doing. 

PRI: Is there anything else you want to talk about?

Causey: Just this—for the latest news and information, go to phoenixraceway.com.