You can find Joe Louis in one of two places at races. The first is as the stop/go flagger at CARS Tour events such as this one at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The second is as a chaplain in the pits. Both seemingly fit Louis’ mission in life to serve his fellow man.
Weeks before the North Wilkesboro event, Louis focused on helping his Western North Carolina neighbors after the historic floods brought on by Hurricane Helene.
“My motivation in life is my love of people,” Louis, of Candler, North Carolina, said. “I was fortunate that God protected me. I had a tent and a generator. So, I went to work every day, helping masses of people, devastated by the floods.”
The 76-year-old works part-time in the electrical department at The Home Depot. He saw the need firsthand, when the company shipped more than a thousand generators to his store.
“It was all hands-on deck,” said Louis. “I worked 95 hours in just over a week. The Home Depot is my work family. My other families are my community family, my racing family and my real family.”
Louis has six children along with several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. His racing family helped him pull through one of his darkest moments, when his wife, Marie Elena, passed away in May 2016.
“She got cancer, and my racing family was by my side through the journey,” Louis said. “That’s why I’m here today, at every race, to be here for them the way they were here for me.”
As CARS Tour chaplain, his day often starts early and ends late.
“It is my responsibility to be there if a driver requests prayer,” said Louis. “I also have to be there if something doesn’t go well during the race, if you know what I mean.”
After the drivers’ meeting, he delivers his message.
“Do you want to qualify?” Louis often asks the crowd, welcoming all regardless of religious affiliation.
He then refers to Colossians 3. Louis explains how compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness — all cited in the chapter — relate to racing.
He also often mentions Ephesians 6:10-20, asking drivers if they want to be a champion and urging them to be a champion against evil.
Joe Louis understands the value of the opening prayer that often begins racing activities.
“I believe in the power of prayer,” said Louis. “It is the most important thing in my life. It got me through losing my precious wife. I will be a chaplain until the day I die.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
