Charles Morgan drives a wicked air-cooled Porsche 911 GT2 Watch Video Mini's Super Bowl ad stars Serena Williams and Tony Hawk Watch Video Australian cyclist posts video of road rage incident Watch Video The animated story of Wendell Scott, African American NASCAR driver Watch Video Autoblog Minute: Citizen pulls police officer over Watch Video In Honda Super Bowl ad, Ridgeline teaches sheep to sing Watch Video Recharge Wrap-up: Elon speaks in Paris, EV incentives for Germany? Watch Video Hyundai Super Bowl ads use humor, Ryan Reynolds to sell 2017 Elantra Watch Video Leno unleashes the Mustang GT350 R on LAWatch Video Autoblog Minute: Tornado tosses car on highway Watch Video.
Wendell Scott, shown May 24, 1972, remains the only African American to have won a race in NASCAR's premier series.( Photo: AP) CHARLOTTE — If perseverance is the primary criteria for election to the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Wendell Scott is the most deserving candidate in stock-car history. As the sport's first black winner, he deserves immense praise for overcoming death threats, pervasive discrimination and meager funding to race on the highest level of stock-car racing from 1961-73. And NASCAR should get none of the credit for it. HALL OF FAME: Bill Elliott highlights 2015 class There will be attempts made at revisionist history that paint a happy face ( NASCAR is inducting its Jackie Robinson! ) on the latest chapter of Scott's saga, but it should be remembered that his indefatigable spirit didn't resonate in a deserved manner by effecting major social change. Scott is a trailblazer only in the sense that he was the first black driver to win in NASCAR's premier series. He isn't analogous to the pioneers who broke color barriers in other sports that opened the floodgates for minorities to enter and thrive. After his lone victory Dec. 1, 1963 in Jacksonville, Fla., (which initially wasn't credited to Scott because track promoters didn't want a black driver with a white trophy girl it took nearly a half-century before another African- American driver won in a national series ( Darrell Wallace Jr. in the Camping World Truck Series at Martinsville Speedway last October). That's not an indictment of Scott's legacy. It's a shameful blemish on a sport whose Southern roots reflect this country's endless struggle for civil rights and equality. BALLOT: How Nate Ryan voted for the Hall of Fame NASCAR has gotten aggressive recently at making attempts to correct its lily-white veneer. A Drive for Diversity program started 11 years ago has produced Wallace, and there are more promising.
Wendell Scott This date marks the birth of Wendell Scott in 1921. He was an African American racecar driver. Wendell Oliver Scott blended driving talent and determination into a long career on the otherwise all-white NASCAR Grand National tour. He is the only black to win a major-league NASCAR race. Scott was from Danville, Virginia's Crooktown section. His first driving job was as a taxi driver. Later he hauled illegal whiskey, an occupation that called for skills as both a high-performance mechanic and a fearless driver. Early on, blacks were barred from many major races. In the 1920s, black drivers tried to arrange racing circuits, But the prize money was meager at best. Nevertheless, Scott set his sights on breaking into organized racing. There were just a few blacks attending races then, Scott was quot;d as saying. Most of the time me and a friend were the only two blacks in the stands. He'd often ask me if I'd have the nerve to get out there and run. I'd tell him, 'shucks, yes I could do it. Scott started racing at the Danville Fairgrounds Speedway. He won 120 races in lower divisions and in 1959, won state championships in his classes. In 1961, he was able to pull together enough money to field a car on NASCAR's top-level Grand National circuit, later renamed the Winston Cup series. Enduring persistent, sometimes brutal, discrimination, Scott raced in nearly 500 races in NASCAR's top division from 1961 through the early 1970s. Racing on a shoestring, he finished in the top ten 147 times. On December 1, 1963, he won his only major race, a 100-mile event on a half-mile track in Jacksonville, Florida, but Scott was denied the opportunity to celebrate in Victory Circle. NASCAR officials said a scoring error was responsible for allowing another driver to accept the winner's trophy. Scott doubted that explanation. Everybody in the place knew I had won the race, he.
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