Boyega decided to quit the project after he was cast as one of the new leads in JJ Abrams' 'Star Wars: Episode VII', reported the Wrap.
'Race' is being directed by Stephen Hopkins while the script has been written by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse.
Owens is the legendary athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, shocking Adolf Hitler.
Hitler hoped to ban black and Jewish athletes from competing in the Berlin games but he relented when threatened with a boycott.