1974 –
“That day at the car was the beginning of the final twelve months I shared with my father, the first of the final lessons I learned from him along the way. It was the beginning of me learning, and fully understanding, the truth of my father, our lives, and myself.
The man who loved me most of all could not be honest with me about the mother he had taken me from, or about what was happening to him.
Our next summer together would be the last.“
Excerpt from “The Last Summer” – a Memoir by Max Siegel
Max Siegel, born to bi-racial parents, survived a chaotic childhood with his music-executive father who was both at his side and consistently absent. Max’s childhood of kidnapping, violence, addiction and death threats played out against the backdrop of Motown, Beverly Hills, truck stops and the Vegas strip.
During Max’s time with his father, he took both Max and his younger sister from their mother, a blues singer from Indianapolis, and fled from the courts as he moved around the country. Max’s childhood effectively comes to a halt when his father dies at the age of 38, leaving the 12 yr. old boy fatherless. Eventually returning to a mother he hadn’t seen in five years and who he thought was dead, Max spent his teen years in the rough neighborhoods of Indianapolis. Despite the chaos and loss constantly present in his life, he excelled in school and sports and established a career against all odds that took him to the top of the music, auto racing and Olympic sports industries.
Because of these early life experiences the “ Max Siegel Inc. Youth Foundation” was born. The Foundation was established to reach out to kids who may be in the same challenging similar situations that Max found himself as a child.
Working in various executive capacities in the sports and entertainment fields over the last 25 years, Max’s track record has consistently been that of financial growth and competitive success. A nationally renowned sports and entertainment executive, Max grew up in Indianapolis, Detroit, Los Angeles and Las Vegas. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he was the first African-American to graduate with honors from the university’s law school. His professional life has been marked by a series of history-making ventures and positions. At age 30, Max established his own business as an entertainment and sports agent, representing Hall of Fame athletes Reggie White and Tony Gwynn. He then expanded his business into the gospel industry, serving as Senior Vice President at Sony BMG and as President of Zomba Gospel, Tommy Boy Gospel and Verity Records, operating some of the most profitable divisions in the music industry. He helped develop the careers of gospel greats Kirk Franklin, Fred Hammond, and Donnie McClurkin, and was part of the management team overseeing the careers of Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Usher.
In 2006, Max became the highest-ranking African American executive in NASCAR as President of Global Operations at Dale Earnhardt Inc. In 2010, he took over NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Program with his own race team, Rev Racing, producing national NASCAR series drivers Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez and Darrell Wallace, Jr., the first African American driver in 50 years to win a NASCAR series race. Siegel has led NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity (D4D) program to recruit and develop more diverse and female talent for the sport. This program has advanced the sport from a fledging effort into a competitive force on the racetrack, providing opportunities to over 100+ diverse and female drivers and 85+ pit crew members.
Siegel serves as a member of the board of directors of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality (RISE), is a member of the NASCAR Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, the PointsBet Diversity Council, the Board of Trustees at Martin University and the Brebeuf Jesuit Prep School in Indianapolis. Formerly, he served as a director on the boards of USATF and the USA Swimming Foundation.
Since 2012, Siegel has served USA Track & Field as its first African-American CEO, guiding the organization to record budgets, unprecedented financial stability and historic performances at the Olympic Games. He will lead the organization at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.
His recent recognitions include the 2023 North Carolina Motorsports Association Industry Award, the 2022 SBJ All In: Leaders in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and the 2022 Sports Inclusion Conference Top Diverse Leaders in Sports. An active voice in the sports community, he has appeared on influential speaking panels, including at the CAA World Congress of Sport, the Sports Business Journal Brand Innovation Summit, the Black Sports Symposium, the Leadership Louisville Luncheon, and more.
Siegel is also an accomplished author of four books, including “The Last Summer,” “Know What Makes Them Tick: How to Successfully Negotiate Almost Any Situation,” and a film producer of the 2010 BET Network series “Changing Lanes,” and the 2011 ESPN Documentary “Wendell Scott: A Race Story.”
He is a native of Indianapolis and resides there with his wife and three children.