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  • NASCAR Beginnings Featuring Wendell Scott

    NASCAR Beginnings Featuring Wendell Scott

    Wendell Oliver Scott, born in 1921 in Danville, Virginia, was an American stock car driver and a pioneer of NASCAR.  On March 4, 1961 in Spartanburg SC, he broke down racial barriers to make his first start in the NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) division.  Scott went on to become the first and to date, the only, African-American to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup event.

    A look into his life gives us insight into a tumultuous part of NASCAR and American history.

    Scott didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life but was sure of one thing. Whatever it was, he would be his own boss.

    As a youngster he loved going fast, racing his bicycles against other kids and speeding around town on roller skates. Scott also grew up learning about cars at his father’s side. His Dad worked as a driver and mechanic for two wealthy white families and was well known for his prowess behind the wheel.

    Eventually Scott quit high school, became a taxi driver and later served in the segregated Army in Europe during World War II. After the war, he ran an auto-repair shop and ran moonshine on the side.

    Like others before him, he used the moonshine business to hone his driving skills and learn how to build fast race cars. Scott was only caught once and was sentenced to three years probation but continued to make whiskey runs.

    On May 23, 1952, a set of unusual circumstances gave Scott his first racing start.

    At that time the races in Danville were run by the Dixie Circuit, a competing organization to NASCAR.  In order to bring in more money, they decided that they needed a gimmick. Their idea was to bring in a black driver who was fast enough to compete with the usual white drivers. They chose Wendell Scott.

    That first race wasn’t a success. His car broke down and many spectators booed him. But at that moment, Scott realized this was what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

    The next day brought Scott back down to earth. He repaired his car and decided to tow it to a NASCAR-sanctioned race in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The NASCAR officials refused to let him compete telling him that black drivers weren’t allowed.

    He left the race with tears in his eyes but he didn’t quit.

    A few days later he went to another NASCAR event in High Point, North Carolina but was once again told he couldn’t race. They suggested he get a white boy to drive his car.

    “I told ’em weren’t no damn white boy going to drive my car,” Scott said.

    Instead, he left the track and decided to avoid NASCAR races for the time being.

    He raced with the Dixie Circuit and at other non-NASCAR speedways and won his first race at Lynchburg, Virginia, only twelve days into his racing career.

    As time passed, he still got boos but more and more fans began rooting for him. Although some of the drivers were prejudiced and would wreck him deliberately, many drivers came to respect Scott. They saw him as a driver no different from themselves, just another hard-working guy who loved racing.

    Soon, some of the newspapers began writing positive stories about Scott and his popularity increased.

    Scott understood, though, that in order to really succeed in the sport, he had to gain admission to NASCAR. He didn’t know NASCAR founder and president, Bill France, so Scott found a less direct way to get into NASCAR.

    He towed his racecar to a local NASCAR event at Richmond Speedway and asked the steward, Mike Poston, to grant him a NASCAR license. Poston was only a part-timer in NASCAR but he did have the authority to issue licenses.

    Poston told him, “We’ve never had any black drivers, and you’re going to be knocked around.”

    “I can take it,” Scott told him.

    Poston approved Scott’s license but his decision wasn’t popular.

    Scott finally met Bill France for the first time in April of 1954. The night before they met, the promoter at a NASCAR event in Raleigh, North Carolina, had given gas money to all of the white drivers who came to the track but had refused to pay Scott. Scott approached France at the Lynchburg speedway and told him what had happened.

    France immediately reached into his pocket, gave Scott thirty dollars and assured him that NASCAR would never treat him with prejudice.

    “You’re a NASCAR member, and as of now you will always be treated as a NASCAR member.”

    In 1961, Scott moved up to the NASCAR Grand National division.

    On December 1, 1963, driving a Chevrolet Bel Air purchased from Ned Jarrett, he won his first race at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida — the first and only top level NASCAR event won by an African-American.

    Ironically, Scott almost didn’t make the race.

    Scott didn’t have enough cash in his pocket to make the long trip. So he asked Jarrett if he could borrow $500.00.

    “He was a race-car driver and I was a race-car driver,” Jarrett said.

    “But he was having a tough time because of his race at that particular period. He wasn’t going to get a lot of help. I thought he was a good race-car driver and he could be good for the sport.”

    Wendell had won the race, by two laps over Buck Baker, but it wasn’t without controversy. NASCAR waved the checkered flag over Baker and awarded him the trophy.

    Hours later, NASCAR officials admitted that Scott had won the race. They gave him a trophy about a month later in Savannah, but it wasn’t the real thing.

    Buck got the real trophy.

    He continued to race competitively through the rest of the 1960s but was forced to retire due to injuries from a racing accident at Talladega, Alabama in 1973.

    Scott achieved one win and 147 top ten finishes in 495 career Grand National starts.

    He died Dec. 22, 1990, after a long battle with spinal cancer.  In 1999, Scott was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

    I’m so glad we never gave up,” said Scott’s Widow Mary.

    “When Ned Jarrett and all of those old drivers came to Scott’s funeral, they told us he had the respect of all the drivers. I’d say all of those older guys learned to like him and respect him. They knew he was a genuine person and he stood for what he believed. He didn’t give up.”

    It has been 50 years since Scott’s first race in NASCAR’s premier series. His achievements will be honored on ESPN on February 20th with a movie entitled “Wendell Scott: A Race Story.”

    The film will air at 9 p.m. ET shortly after the 53rd running of the Daytona 500 race. It was produced by the Emmy Award-winning NASCAR Media Group in conjunction with ESPN Films and Max Siegel Inc.

    The docudrama will contain seldom seen historical footage plus interviews from members of Scott’s family and memories shared by some of stock car racing’s past legends.

    “Wendell Scott faced overwhelming challenges throughout his life and as a pioneer in his sport,” said John Dahl, executive producer, ESPN Films. “The film captures his strong sense of determination and honor with a poignant look at his struggles as well as an examination of his legacy.”

    Scott will always be remembered as the man who prepared the way for future generations of minorities in stock car racing.

    But what we should never forget is this. Wendell Scott was at heart simply a racer.

    All he wanted was a chance to prove himself out on the track. The real testament to his success is that he did just that and earned the respect of the other drivers in the process.

    Achievements:

    1963 – The first and only African-American to win a NASCAR Sprint Cup event.

    1999 – Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame

    2000 – Inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame

    Thanks to Brian Donovan – “Hard Driving: The American Odyssey of NASCAR’s First Black Driver” and NASCAR for quotes.

  • Dale Jarrett, Tom Higgins, Waddell Wilson Receive Honors

    Dale Jarrett, Tom Higgins, Waddell Wilson Receive Honors

    Dale Jarrett, 1999 Cup Champion and three-time Daytona 500 winner, Waddell Wilson, engine builder and crew chief, and Tom Higgins, noted NASCAR journalist, were inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in a grand style in Charlotte this weekend.

    [media-credit id=11 align=”alignright” width=”237″][/media-credit]The three inductees joined other NMPA Hall of Fame notables including Bobby and Davey Allison, Neil Bonnett, Dale Earnhardt, A.J. Foyt, Barney Hall, Harry Hyde, and Junior Johnson just to name a few.

    Father Ned Jarrett gave the induction speech for his son Dale.  He noted how proud he was that his son had followed in his footsteps not only in his racing career but now in his broadcasting career as well.

    “We truly have been blessed in our careers, both Dale and I, to have been able to share a lot of good things together along the way,” Jarrett said.  “For him to follow in my footsteps as a driver and now as a broadcaster is very, very special.  Those of you who have children know what that means.”

    Ned Jarrett also noted how important 2011 has been and will be for the Jarrett family.

    “A number of good things are happening in 2011,” Jarrett said.  “First is Dale being inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame.  It was announced last week that he was also elected to the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.”

    “And it has been documented that I will be inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame this year,” Jarrett continued.  “So, 2011 is a very special time for us and our family.”

    Jarrett noted that there have been many opportunities for he and his son Dale to share in the sport of NASCAR.   The most special of all, however, was being able to broadcast the Daytona 500, pronouncing his son Dale as the winner.

    “To do the things that we’ve been able to do together, like him winning the 1993 Daytona 500,” Jarrett said. “I was working with CBS in the booth.  That was a very, very special moment for us and it turned out it was a very good moment for the sport of auto racing too because that moment has been shown a lot over the years.”

    Jarrett noted that his son was also an all-around “sports nut”.  He, as did many others in their tributes to Dale Jarrett, noted his prowess not only on the race track but also on the golf course.

    After accepting the presentation by his father and donning the grey NMPA Hall of Fame jacket, Dale Jarrett took a moment to pay tribute to his fellow honorees, as well as the many other honorees in the room.

    Jarrett thanked Tom Higgins for “always being a great friend, treating me fairly from the press, and having fun on the golf course” and recognized all of the support he had been given by Waddell Wilson, especially as he struggled with his own Busch Grand National team.

    “Whether it be a gear that I needed that he loaned me and never charged me anything to sharing a closed test at Daytona,” Jarrett said.  “These are the things that most people don’t know about that are so important.”

    While Jarrett thanked and recognized many in the room who had helped him in his racing career, as well as his current broadcasting career, the most powerful moment of his remarks came when he was recognizing his family, his parents, his wife, his two sons Zach and Jason, his sister and brother-in-law, who were with him for the celebration.

    “It’s a tough business we’re in,” Jarrett said.  “When you’re on the road all the time, it makes it pretty difficult.  I was fortunate that throughout a lot of my career, I had my family there. That helped ease things.”

    Another famous NASCAR family  member, Kyle Petty, made the induction remarks for engine builder and crew chief Waddell Wilson.  He noted how Wilson’s career as an engine builder at Holman Moody launched his success including winning 109 races, 123 poles and three championships, two with David Pearson in 1968 and 1969, and one with Benny Parsons in 1973.

    Petty also noted that the Daytona 500 was a special race for Wilson, just as it had been for Dale Jarrett. Wilson won three Daytona 500s, as crew chief to  Buddy Baker in 1980 and with Cale Yarborough in 1983 and 1984.

    “I’m here for Waddell,” Petty said.  “I talked to Waddell the other day and I asked Waddell why am I introducing you.  And he said ‘Because the Pettys have always been a pain in my ass.’

    When Wilson took the stage to don his NMPA Hall of Fame jacket, he did indeed reminisce about many aspects of his career, especially chasing after the “Petty blue” cars.  He not only drove in his career, but became one of the sport’s most noted engine builders and crew chiefs.

    Steve Waid, himself a noted journalist, introduced the final inductee and his best friend Tom Higgins. Chronicling many of their exploits together, Waid paid tribute to a man that chronicled some of NASCAR’s most interesting times, especially its years of growth and expansion.

    Higgins started his career at the Asheville Times in 1958, eventually writing for the noted Charlotte Observer. He was one of the first reporters to cover the sport on a full-time basis and did so until his retirement in 1997.

    When Higgins took the stage for his induction, he told story after story about the special people that he had met in the sport.  He was especially emotional telling some of the tales of his favorite drivers who he counted as friends, from Cotton Owens to Dale Earnhart, Sr.

    Kyle Petty summed up the honors best for Higgins and all three inductees.

    “This is a big deal,” Petty said.  “I grew up in the sport when there wasn’t a lot of media.  Higgins and Steve (Waid) were two of the first.  The group that we had looked after the sport and protected the sport.”

    “The sport has gone on to higher heights but the foundation that these inductees laid, we’re not here in this room,” Petty continued.  “It’s important to touch base with that and to continue to educate the new fans.”