Former NASCAR inspector Mauricia Grant is suing the auto-racing organization for $225 million, alleging racial and sexual discrimination, sexual harassment and wrongful termination. Grant, who says her years of interest in cars and racing made her accustomed to working in a man's world, was shocked by the way she was treated during her time with NASCAR.

"I loved it. It was a great, exciting, adrenaline-filled job where I worked with fast cars and the best drivers in the world," Grant told The Associated Press. "But there was an ongoing daily pattern [of harassment]. It was the nature of the people I worked with, the people who ran it, it trickled down from the top."

The 32-year-old woman, who is black, worked as a technical inspector responsible for certifying cars in NASCAR's second-tier Nationwide Series from January 2005 until her termination last October, according to ESPN.com. In the lawsuit, she alleged she was subject to racially-charged nicknames like "Nappy Headed Mo" and was intimidated by one official who routinely made references to the Ku Klux Klan.

In addition, Grant said she was subjected to sexual advances from male co-workers, two of whom allegedly exposed themselves to her.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, lists 23 specific incidents of alleged sexual harassment and 34 specific incidents of alleged racial and gender discrimination throughout her employment.

"As an equal opportunity employer, NASCAR is fully committed to the spirit and letter of affirmative action law," said NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston. He added that the organization had not yet reviewed the suit.

In the lawsuit, Grant said she complained numerous times to her supervisors about how she was treated, to no avail. On one occasion, Grant said Nationwide Series director Joe Balash, her immediate supervisor, was dismissive of her complaints, explaining her co-workers were "former military guys" with a rough sense of humor.

"You just have to deal with it," she says Balash told her.
After repeated complaints the woman was fired, with "poor work performances" cited as the reason.

"My supervisors all praised me. I was hanging in there with the guys," she said. "I am an athletic person. I went over the wall and faced malicious crews and competitive crew chiefs, and I was right there and held it down and was never lazy about it.

"And I knew that once I was terminated, there wasn't going to be an opportunity for me to find another industry like NASCAR to practice my craft," she said.

Grant says she continues to suffer from severe emotional distress, including depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, headaches and gastrointestinal distress since her firing. She remains unemployed.