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Wendell Scott: NASCAR'S Unsung American Hero By Brian Donovan |
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Associated Press Wendell Scott,
NASCAR'S first black driver, a pioneer in American sports history. |
Associated
Press Scott, who broke the color barrier on the speedway in a time of
searing racial prejudice and upheaval. |
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Wendell Scott: NASCAR'S Unsung American Hero By Brian
Donovan On Tuesday, 18 years will have passed since the death
of a remarkable racial pioneer: Wendell Scott, NASCAR’s first black driver. A
talented racer, Scott began banging fenders with roughneck competitors on
Dixie dirt tracks in 1952, during an era when he couldn’t use a white
restroom or drinking fountain. His story, little known outside the racing
world, offers a reminder of how much our country has changed — but also of
how NASCAR’s progress toward diversity still seems stuck in the past. Scott’s dream of becoming a competitive national-level
racer depended on support from NASCAR’s celebrated founder and czar, the late
Bill France Sr. At first, Scott’s prospects looked promising. Early on, France
assured him he’d always be treated without prejudice. In the minor leagues
Scott won dozens of races and a Virginia state championship. Like Barack Obama, Scott developed surprising numbers
of admirers among ordinary white folks in Southern states. He became one of
NASCAR’s most popular drivers, even as an underdog without the corporate
sponsorship for a competitive race car. His passionate determination inspired
fans to reconsider racial stereotypes. Unfortunately, his support in the
grandstands wasn’t matched in NASCAR’s executive suites. As the growing civil rights struggle inflamed racial
tensions in the 1960s, France reneged on his promise, and a pattern of unfair
treatment by NASCAR followed. France denied Scott the Rookie of the Year
Award for his first major-league season, even though Scott was the top rookie
in the standings. When Scott won his only national race, NASCAR
officials, fearing he’d kiss the white trophy queen, declared another driver
the victor. Long after the crowd and the queen had left, NASCAR grudgingly
admitted that Scott had won. For years South Carolina’s major track, Darlington
Raceway, banned Scott because he was black. This cost him any chance for
sponsorship. France addressed the problem with inaction and silence. When
Scott finally asked for help, he said France told him that Darlington was
important to NASCAR’s success and Scott should just be patient. When senior NASCAR officials and major promoters
mistreated Scott, France continued his hands-off neutrality. One official abused
his authority and excluded Scott from an important race at Charlotte. Others
did the same thing at the speedways in Daytona Beach, Fla., and Martinsville, Va. — facilities in which France owned major financial
interests. Repeatedly, officials harassed Scott over trivial issues: his
son’s beards, minor blemishes in his car’s paint. At one prestigious NASCAR event, Scott was exploited in
a bogus promotional scheme. A record crowd packed Charlotte’s speedway after
the promoter announced he’d give Scott his first chance to drive a
competitive car. But the car was a phony; its weak performance embarrassed
Scott in front of 81,000 spectators. France helped other drivers obtain sponsorship for
competitive cars, but not Scott. This pattern of unfairness persisted,
insiders say, largely because France and other influential executives in the
NASCAR world believed that a competitive black driver would be bad for
business. At the time France was cultivating alliances with leading
segregationist politicians such as Alabama Gov. George Wallace, and those
relationships helped NASCAR to grow into today’s multibillion-dollar
enterprise. The biased actions toward Scott continued as France was
negotiating successfully with Wallace for millions of dollars in state
subsidies for a huge new speedway. Wallace would never have approved that
money if NASCAR’s lone black driver had any chance of winning. Today, 35 years after Scott’s last race, America’s
racial situation has improved drastically. But NASCAR remains the country’s least
diverse major sport, despite a diversity program launched eight years ago.
Every regular driver in NASCAR’s three national series is a white male. Some Scott admirers feel that some official recognition for him from
NASCAR is long overdue — perhaps at the new hall of fame NASCAR is opening in
2009, perhaps a public apology for the bigotry he suffered. Others believe an
apology would be quite unlikely, since NASCAR, still owned by the France
family, has never honestly acknowledged its role in robbing Scott of his
dream. When we cling to the comfort of denying what we’ve done
wrong in the past, we hobble our ability to understand the unfair situations
we should be trying to correct today. Even if NASCAR
can’t figure out how to put another Wendell Scott on its speedways, it should
at least find some way to express regret for its shabby treatment of an
American integration pioneer, one of the many whose struggles helped to open
doors for African-Americans to all sectors of our society, including the door
to the Oval Office. Brian Donovan, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, is the author of “Hard Driving:
The Wendell Scott Story, the American Odyssey of NASCAR’s First Black
Driver.” For further information see: www.harddriving.us. |
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