Tonight's Grand Marshall - JOSE RAMIREZ Official Weekly Program - Edition No.13 2006 - 58th Year of Racing Action "Gentlemen start your engines!" - the four most exciting words in racing will be spoken tonight by Grand Marshall Jose Ramirez, owner of Corona Auto Repair. Ramirez and wife Lucy reside in Winston-Salem. Jose began his career in San Salvador, El Salvador and has worked extensively in his native country and in New York as a professional mechanic and owner of two shops. He and his family are now enjoying life in North Carolina as well as their successful auto repair business located just a few miles from Bowman Gray Stadium on 2860 Waughtown Street. As an honored guest of Advance Auto Parts, Ramirez will be the honorary starter of the Advance Auto Parts 199 and will present the victory trophy to the winner of the Advance Auto Parts 199. ----------------------------------------------------------------- HISPANIC-OWNED BUSINESSES ON THE RISE CENSUS REPORT SHOWS A 63 PERCENT INCREASE IN FORSYTH COUNTY OVER FIVE-YEAR PERIOD By Wesley Young and Jeanne Sturiale JOURNAL REPORTERS The number of Hispanic-owned businesses in Forsyth County increased by 63 percent between 1997 and 2002, according to statistics released yesterday by the U.S. Census Bureau. Statewide, there was a 24 percent increase in Hispanic-owned businesses. The Census Bureau's report, "Hispanic-Owned Firms: 2002," found 304 Hispanic-owned businesses in Forsyth County, up from 187 in 1997.The growth was explosive in some areas of the state. Mecklenburg County had 2,106 Hispanic-owned businesses in 2002, a 173 percent increase over 1997. Almost a fourth of the state's 9,043 Hispanic-owned businesses were in Mecklenburg County. Wake County had 1,409 Hispanic-owned businesses, a 77 percent jump over 1997. Inside the city of Winston-Salem, there were 212 Hispanic-owned businesses, up 43 percent from the 148 businesses here in 1997. The statistics do not include Jose Ramirez, who moved his family and business to Winston-Salem from Queens, N.Y., in 2004. Ramirez owns Corona Auto Repair Corp. on Waughtown Street. "Everybody knows this is a busy area," Ramirez said. Drive east on Waughtown Street and one sees the hair salons, grocers, mechanic shops and other small enterprises that have sprung up primarily to serve the neighborhood's Hispanic residents. Ramirez came to the United States in 1976 from El Salvador. His family later joined him. Although many people might think of Hispanics as Mexicans, the Census Bureau's survey shows that only 45 percent of Hispanic-owned businesses in the Triad are owned by people of Mexican origin. Puerto Rican business owners comprised 10 percent of the total, and Cubans ran 8 percent of the Hispanic-owned businesses. The 2000 U.S. Census found that Hispanics consisted of almost 5 percent of the state's population, but the 2002 survey found that Hispanic-owned businesses made up 1.4 percent of the state's businesses. Only 19 percent of them had any paid employees. Of the 1,018 Hispanic-owned businesses in the Triad, only 242 had any paid employees. Those statistics make Ramirez's repair shop less than typical. Ramirez has two employees: his wife, Lucy Ramirez, who does the bookkeeping, and an auto mechanic. It is difficult to start a business in New York, Jose Ramirez said. But it is also been hard in Winston-Salem because he has had to start from scratch. Most Hispanic business owners know they have to start small, said Pauline Morris, the director of the Forsyth Technical Community College Hispanic Center. It helps small business startups in the Hispanic community. "Most every week we see Hispanic businesses starting up," Morris said. "What happens is, they are very resilient. If one business they start doesn't seem to work very well they will switch to a different one." The Census Bureau said that some of its survey methods changed between 1997 and 2002 and its data are not directly comparable with the 1997 sample. The survey is subject to sampling variability that can limit the reliability of the estimates. Nationwide, the Census Bureau said that the number of Hispanic-owned businesses grew 31 percent between 1997 and 2002. The nearly 1.6 million Hispanic-owned businesses generated nearly $222 billion in revenue. The states with the fastest rates of growth for Hispanic-owned businesses included New York (up 57 percent), Rhode Island and Georgia (up 56 percent each), and Nevada and South Carolina (up 48 percent each). The growth in Hispanic businesses in Forsyth County shows that "entrepreneurship is alive and thriving," said Jane Martin, the president of Makin' It Work - Pronto! It is a communications company that works in the Hispanic market. "If you drive down Waughtown Street, you will see lots of new Hispanic businesses, from wonderful bake shops to car-repair shops," she said. "After they are here for a while and start to accumulate wealth, they can buy a nicer car and get a house. It has a very positive impact on the economy." At his auto-repair shop, Ramirez said that most of his customers are Hispanic. However, he serves blacks and whites as well. "If I do a nice job, they're looking for you," he said. http://www.journalnow.com - March 22, 2006