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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| Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images |
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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| Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images |
