Armani Williams
Armani Williams is an American professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 6 Ford Mustang for MBM Motorsports, and part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 13 Toyota Camry for MBM Motorsports. He has also competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series as well as what are now the ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West in the past.
Williams is the first NASCAR driver openly diagnosed on the autism spectrum. He is one of two currently active autistic NASCAR drivers, along with Cody Ware. Over the course of his NASCAR career, Williams' cars have often sported blue paint schemes with the blue autism puzzle pieces to symbolize his diagnosis on the spectrum and to raise awareness. He is also one of five African-American drivers currently competing in NASCAR, along with Cup Series driver Bubba Wallace, Rajah Caruth, Blake Lothian, and Lavar Scott.
Racing career
Williams great-grandfather owned an auto-body repair shop creating the foundation for automobiles in the family. Williams in particular loved to play with Hot Wheels toy cars as a child, and later discovered NASCAR on TV and immediately began watching races. He soon decided it was what he wanted to do as a career, so he began racing go-karts at the age of eight, and eventually bandoleros after that. Specifically, he attended a competitive go-karting school and then participated in go-kart races.Williams originally competed in the ARCA [Lincoln Welders Truck Series|ARCA Truck Series], finishing seventh in the standings in the 2016 season. However, the series was shut down after 2016, so he moved to the NASCAR [Canada Series|NASCAR Pinty's Series] in Canada in 2017. Driving for his mentor, D. J. Kennington, Williams drove his No. 28 Dodge in five races, with a best finish of eleventh in his debut race at Delaware Speedway. He made one start in 2018 for Peter Simone's No. 97 Dodge at New Hampshire, where he earned his first top-ten finish in the series with a ninth-place.
Williams raced once in both the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West in 2018 for Calabrese Motorsports and Patriot Motorsports Group, respectively. He returned to the Patriot team, renamed Kart Idaho Racing, in 2019, after not qualifying for the race at Irwindale driving the No. 35 for Vizion Motorsports. After Williams' DNQ, John Wood stepped out of his No. 38 for Williams to drive it, where he finished twelfth. In the East Series, Williams competed with Kart Idaho at New Hampshire, finishing eleventh in that race.
Williams in 2020 would make his debut in the ARCA Menards Series at Phoenix, where he drove Fast Track Racing's No. 01 car to a seventeenth place finish. He would then run team's No. 12 car at Michigan, where he scored a top-ten finish.
In 2021, Williams made his NASCAR [Camping World Truck Series] debut at Gateway in the No. 33 Reaume Brothers Racing Toyota, finishing 21st.
In 2022, Williams ran two more races in the Truck Series.
Personal life
Diagnosed at age two, Williams is on the autism spectrum and spoke his first word at three years old. He did have some social interaction and sensory issues growing up, as other people on the spectrum do, but quickly learned to improve and overcome them with the help of his parents.Williams and his father attended the 2010 Brickyard 400 when he was ten which sparked his interest in racing along with playing with toy cars at home and watching NASCAR races on TV. He attends Oakland University studying mechanical engineering. His favorite driver growing up was Jimmie Johnson.
Williams is from Grosse Pointe, Michigan and had a 3.0 GPA at his high school while balancing school and racing.
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
Xfinity Series
Craftsman Truck Series
Season still in progressIneligible for series points