LIVE UPDATES :Bubba Wallace Finally Grants Explosive Interview: ‘I’m the Most Hated NASCAR Driver The Truth Behind the Controversy and My Fight Against Racism–A must Read⬇️⬇️
Interviewer (I): Bubba, thank you for joining us today. You’ve been the subject of many headlines over the years, particularly regarding your stance on racism in NASCAR. Let’s start with the big question: How do you feel being labeled as the most hated driver in NASCAR?
Buwbba Wallace (BW): First off, I appreciate you having me. It’s tough, honestly. It’s never easy being the target of hatred, especially when you’re the best in public eyes and…See Full Interview here👇👇
The reluctant activist: How Bubba Wallace went from a kid racing cars to driving social change in Nascar
Bubba Wallace never saw himself as an activist, but in 2020 he took a stand. The 23XI Racing driver speaks exclusively to SportsPro about life as Nascar’s only Black driver, the importance of representation in motorsport, and how he plans on leaving a legacy in a historically white sport.
The date is 21st June 2020, and Bubba Wallace is gearing up for the Geico 500, a Nascar Cup Series race held at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, his home state.
That evening, Wallace is made aware of a “heinous” discovery near his car by Nascar president Steve Phelps; a noose has been found hanging in his garage stall by a member of Wallace’s team.
For context, Wallace is the only Black driver in the Nascar Cup Series and the first Black driver to have a full-time entry in the top-tier series since Wendell Scott in 1971. In 2021, he became the first Black driver to win a Cup Series race since Scott achieved the feat in 1963. This year, he qualified for the Nascar postseason for the first time.
Despite being eliminated from contention at the Charlotte Roval race, Wallace is acutely aware of his unique and prominent position within the sport.
“I’m hopefully playing a small part and trying to bring awareness and grow the sport one fan at a time,” Wallace tells SportsPro. “Knowing the path that Wendell Scott has created for minorities has been a blessing to learn about and an honour to continue that path on.
“We’ve had a lot of greats come through on the minority side of things and to play a small part in that is really, really special. To have my name in the hat with those guys is incredible.”
As the series’ only Black driver, the discovery of the noose that day in June caused national uproar. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) carried out an investigation but determined that the alleged noose had been in the garage since the autumn of 2019, concluding that Wallace had not been the victim of a hate crime.
Despite this, Nascar then reviewed every garage at all 29 of its circuits. Out of all the inspected tracks, 11 garages contained ropes tied in a knot; Wallace’s garage at Talladega Speedway was the only one tied in a noose.
The responsible party was never identified, nor was the intention ever fully established, but it highlighted the tense relationship between Nascar and diversity, especially given its rocky history with racism.
The reluctant activist
Notably, the incident at Talladega Speedway occurred just two weeks after Wallace’s activism had convinced Nascar to dispense with flying the Confederate flag at races, something that has come to symbolise historic racism and white supremacy in the US, especially in the Southern states.
The links between this symbol and Nascar’s largely white history are obvious, to the extent that it stirred the usually sedate Wallace to become the activist he is today. His mother, Desiree Wallace, told the New York Times in 2020 that “he doesn’t really care about anything but getting in the car and driving”, adding that “becoming a daggone activist [is] not Bubba”.
An early sign that Wallace was prepared to embrace activism came on 7th June 2020 at the Atlanta Speedway, where he wore a T-shirt emblazoned with the words ‘I can’t breathe’, the phrase that became the rallying cry of the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the murder of George Floyd by a police officer.
This stand occurred three months before a similar act by Lewis Hamilton in Formula One, which saw the Brit wear a T-shirt carrying the slogan ‘Arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor’. Wallace highlights the importance of himself and Hamilton pushing for change while having the visibility to do so.
