Jesse Iwuji

He later ran the race at Meridian Speedway, finishing 23rd after a crash.

In the winter, he ran 34 dirt track races, one of which included a fifth-place finish in a Winged 500cc Outlaw Kart A-main.

Jesse Ekene Iwuji (born August 12, 1987) is an American professional stock car racing driver and officer in the United States Navy Reserve.

He previously competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 34 Chevrolet Camaro for Jesse Iwuji Motorsports.

He has also competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, and West, and ARCA Racing Series in the past.

Iwuji attended the United States Naval Academy, where he joined the school's college football and track and field teams; on the former, he was a free safety for the Navy Midshipmen.

He formally enrolled at the Academy on June 30, 2005.

Although he played linebacker in high school, he was a free safety on the Navy football team.

He played on special teams during his freshman year in 2006 before starting two games at safety in 2007, but missed six games during the latter due to ankle injury.

While attending the Naval Academy, Iwuji first expressed interest in motorsports when the Midshipmen visited the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina before the 2006 Meineke Car Care Bowl, during which the players rode around the track.

During his senior year, he started drag racing at Capitol Speedway in Crofton, Maryland, driving a Chrysler 300.

After his graduation, he raced a Dodge Challenger.

Four years later, he participated in the Mojave Mile speed trial; for the event, he upgraded his Challenger's engine to a horsepower of 1,100.

With the new engine, Iwuji ran at a speed of 200.9 mph, becoming the fifth modern Mopar driver to accomplish the feat at the Mojave Mile.

Afterwards, he joined the Naval Postgraduate School staff in southern California, where he was involved in road racing – driving a Chevrolet Corvette – before making the transition to stock cars.

In 2008, he played in the Army–Navy Game and the EagleBank Bowl.

Iwuji was a backup to Kwesi Mitchell in 2009, though he saw action at strong safety in the season opener against the Ohio State Buckeyes due to Emmett Merchant's injury.

Iwuji also competed on the track and field team, where he ran the 60-meter, 100-meter, and 200-meter dashes in addition to the 4 × 100-meter relay.

He graduated from the academy in 2010 and entered the United States Navy as a surface warfare officer, in which he served on the Mine Countermeasures ship Exultant and USS Comstock.

After seven years on active duty, Iwuji transitioned to the Navy Reserve.

As a sailor and driver, Iwuji has served as an ambassador for both the military and NASCAR communities.

In addition to supporting military philanthropic groups, he is also involved in various NASCAR events supporting the armed forces and veterans.

Iwuji attended Hebron High School, where he was a letterman twice in football and three times in track.

On the football team, he was a two-star recruit.

During his junior year of high school, Iwuji was contacted by the Naval Academy and was offered a scholarship to the school.

In addition to continuing his football career at Hebron (where he was named first-team all-district in his senior year), he attended the Naval Academy Preparatory School before heading to the Naval Academy.

Iwuji graduated in 2010 as a Bachelor of Science and became a surface warfare officer.

After working as a football coach at the Naval Academy Preparatory School, he entered active service.

Iwuji worked in mine countermeasures with Mine Countermeasures Crew Exultant and was deployed to Bahrain in 2012.

In 2014, Iwuji tested a stock car for Performance P-1 Motorsports at Irwindale Speedway.

A year later, he began racing for the team after returning from deployment in the Persian Gulf.

He first competed in the Whelen All-American Series, finishing 15th in his debut.

He also made two NASCAR K&N Pro Series West starts that year at Evergreen Speedway, but did not start the race.

He was later deployed on the USS Comstock, a ship whose name would later appear on a NASCAR Xfinity Series car when it was featured on Darrell Wallace Jr..'s No. 6 Ford Mustang in 2016.

Iwuji started competing full-time in the K&N Pro Series West in 2016, driving the No. 36 for Patriot Motorsports Group.

That year, he was named to the "Mighty 25: Veterans poised for impact in 2016" list by military website We Are The Mighty.

He recorded a best finish of tenth at Orange Show Speedway.

At the Utah Motorsports Campus race, he earned the Move of the Race Award, which is given to the driver who gains the most positions in a race.

In May 2017, he moved to the Navy Reserve.

He is currently stationed in Ventura, California.