Through Difficult Time, Wallace the New Voice of Change in NASCAR

When Wendell Scott crossed the finish line at Jacksonville in 1963, he made history as the first African American driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race.

Unfortunately, he did not get to celebrate.

NASCAR announced that Buck Baker was the winner of the race.  He got to celebrate.  He got the trophy.

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Days later NASCAR announced the error, and Scott was announced as the official winner.  Not only was he the winner, he had also won by two laps.  But there was no celebration and no trophy.

Scott never got to see the trophy from his victory before he died in 1990.  His family had to wait until 2010 – 47 years after the historic victory – to finally get the trophy that was never rewarded for one of NASCAR’s trailblazers.

Rumor has it is that NASCAR fans (and those in the garage, for that matter) would not have been able to handle watching a black man kiss a white trophy girl in victory lane.

And that was the story of African American victories in NASCAR until 2013 – 50 years later – when Bubba Wallace won at Martinsville in the Truck Series.

Wallace was a product of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, which started in 2004 to attract minority and female individuals to the sport.  The three most successful drivers who graduated from the program have been Wallace, Daniel Suarez and Kyle Larson, the latter of which was fired in March for using a racial slur during an iRacing event.

NASCAR, long seen as a “good ol’ boys club,” where it’s primarily white drivers racing in front of white fans, finally took a stand in the midst of protests against racism and police brutality across the country.

On June 7th, NASCAR stood with Wallace and the entire African American community and denounced systemic racism that has plagued our country.  The sport with roots in the Deep South spoke out against racism.

Wallace wore a shirt with the word “I Can’t Breathe, Black Lives Matter,” and a NASCAR official knelt during the invocation and national anthem.

Drivers were involved in a video speaking out about how they must listen, learn and act to help fix this issue.  The race included a moment of silence and spoken message from NASCAR President Steve Phelps calling out systemic racism and how we all must fight it.

I was absolutely shocked.  I was proud that the sport I loved was finally speaking out on an issue that they had, for so long, been the butt of the joke.

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Just two days later on June 9th, NASCAR joined the “You Can Play” initiative that helps to be an inclusive place for those in the LGBTQ community. 

On the same day, Wallace unveiled a special “Black Lives Matter” paint scheme that he ran at Martinsville, and drove to an 11th-place finish. 

Before Wallace’s BLM car took to the track, NASCAR walked back their stance on peaceful protests during the national anthem, which since 2017 had been that drivers and crews needed to stand.

Finally, NASCAR banned the use of the Confederate flag at NASCAR tracks.  This, unlike the 2015 “ban” that included a flag trade-in program, seems to completely ban the flying of the flag in the infield and at other places around the track.

All of these changes seemed to come to a head at Talladega.  On Sunday, while rain postponed the race, a plane flew above the track carrying a banner that read “Defund NASCAR” along with the Confederate flag.

Then, in what is the most shocking thing that no one ever imagined would happen in a NASCAR garage, a member of Wallace’s crew found a noose hanging in the 43 garage stall.  This act was absolutely reprehensible, and NASCAR immediately launched an investigation to find out the person responsible.

I was sick Sunday night thinking of who could possibly do this.  This just further proves how deeply-rooted racism is in parts of the sport and why NASCAR has had to make these progressive changes.  And this wasn’t the work of a dumb fan either; the way that NASCAR has these socially-distanced events setup, the only people who would have access to the garage stall would have been NASCAR officials, fellow crew members, safety personnel and track workers.

NASCAR is better than this, and they will be on the right side of history.  These past weeks have shown that silence is part of the problem, and I’m glad that NASCAR has finally spoken out against these issues.

I must say, I am shocked that NASCAR has finally taken a stand against these social issues.  As a NASCAR fan in Pittsburgh, I have long had to deal with statements dealing with the historic racism in the sport.

I am proud to say that NASCAR is my favorite sport.  For once, they are going against what a small subset of fans believe in.

During this time, I’ve seen many “fans” say they will stop watching the sport.  And for what?  Because the sport is trying to be more inclusive to people of color and different sexual orientations?  Good, leave.  You aren’t welcome here.

For too long NASCAR has pandered to its small base of racist and homophobic fans.  In February, they allowed President Trump to attend the Daytona 500 and parade around the track after giving the command to start engines.  Trump left without seeing a single green flag lap.

NASCAR will always have a racist past.  But with these changes, it seems they are looking towards an inclusive future.

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