by Dina Kraft
JTA
NJJN features editor Ron Kaplan contributed to this story

February 07, 2008

A Birthright Israel trip this winter for Springfield native Jon Denning reestablished a commitment to his Jewish identity that at one time had been something of an afterthought as he pursued his profession as a race car driver.

Denning — the lone Jew in the NASCAR circuit — said the cultural differences he encountered in his adopted home of Danville, Va., made him think about his roots. He told NJ Jewish News in a January 2007 interview that his “aha” moment came when he heard the expression “Jew him down” for the first time.

“I bit my tongue because I’m still trying to make a name for myself, and not that I’m ashamed of being a Jew, but I just think there’s a time and a place to defend yourself like that, and it would have just caused controversy at the time.”

Nevertheless, the incident had a lasting effect. “I discovered what it means to be a Jew. I think in everyone’s life at one point, they have their eyes opened. You go to temple your whole life and you’re told what to pray. It’s one thing to do it because you’re told to, it’s another to do it because of how you act or think.”

Denning’s thought process brought him to the Holy Land as part of a recent Birthright Israel tour.

When donning tefillin at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, said Denning, whose family attends Temple Beth Ahm in Springfield, he found inspiration he had never known anywhere else.

“I’ve never been a very spiritual person, but [in Israel] I have had many spiritual experiences,” the 20-year-old racer said. His moment at the Kotel was the first time he sensed a touch of the divine, he said.

The visit gave him a sense of pride in learning more about Israel and Jewish history, something he said will bring him strength when he returns to the next racing season.

“After spending time with soldiers and talking with people on street, to be honest, I’m jealous of how much respect they have for where they come from,” he said. “They have inspired me to stay strong to my Jewish roots.”

Denning said that moving to Virginia to train and race was a culture shock. Suddenly he was thrust from the more liberal Northeast suburbs to working with mostly Southern Baptists, ardent about their religion.

“People, even those I was working with and tightly associated with, kept trying to force Jesus on me,” said Denning, whose road to NASCAR began after his father, Brad, owner of Dobbs Autobody in Springfield, took him to a go-kart track.

People urged him to attend church and told him his racing career might take a positive turn if he accepted Jesus, he said.

“‘Your luck would be better if you came to Jesus,’” he said associates told him, suggesting that blown-out engines, flat tires, and other failures would disappear if he converted.

The proselytizing comes amid an atmosphere on the racing circuit that Denning describes as rife with racism and bigotry. Andrew Giangola, a NASCAR official, denied having any knowledge of misconduct among its drivers and said that NASCAR is, in fact, trying to make the sport more multicultural. This includes launching a diversity program that encourages minorities and women to go into the upper leagues of the sport.

Denning, who competes in the lower-echelon Whelen All-American Series, said he had applied for the program three times but was turned down after being told through official channels that it applied only to women, Hispanics, and blacks.

He believes the NASCAR establishment is in no rush to embrace a Jewish racer in one of the upper leagues.

Denning started 15 races and finished in the top five three times and in the top 10 seven times. According to NASCAR.com, he finished 498th among 500 racers in last year’s standings.

He said he has had trouble finding corporate sponsorship and acknowledges that he wonders occasionally if it is because he is an outsider — as a Northerner and a Jew.