Why Bubba Wallace’s Talladega win is such a big moment for NASCAR

The last time an African-American driver won a top-tier NASCAR race, it was December 1963. But what happened next at Speedway Park’s half-mile dirt track in Jacksonville, Florida couldn’t have been more different from the reaction to Bubba Wallace’s maiden career Cup Series win on the high banks of Talladega on Monday.

In the winter of ’63, Wendell Scott was never given the trophy and, initially, he was flat-out denied his win. Instead, Hall of Famer Buck Baker was declared the victor, and he received the trophy and got to kiss the ‘race queen’ on the podium for photos.

All this happened a few months before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, which enforced constitutional rights and prevented racial discrimination in America after a long and arduous road to end segregation. However, Scott did have rights as a NASCAR-registered driver (he’d fought for almost a decade to become one) and he was sure he had won. Scott requested NASCAR review its scoring – not unheard of back in the day as the races were scored by hand with pencil and paper.

Two hours later, after the audit of what was (by all accounts) a very messy race, he was declared the winner. But by then there were no fans, no Victory Lane ceremony and no trophy – Baker had already left with that. Scott did, however, get his $1000 winners’ cheque.

Compare that with the scenes that followed Wallace’s win on Monday. He too had to wait a while for it, but this was a legitimate 45-minute pause as NASCAR assessed the weather. When it rained again, it made the call that the race was over, and Wallace was escorted to Victory Lane to get his trophy.

His victory was significant on many levels, not least for a young (in NASCAR terms at 27) driver who was under pressure to deliver a race win this year, his fourth season in Cup. Driving for a new team, 23XI Racing formed by Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan, this high-profile outfit signed up the only African-American driver in NASCAR’s top tier.

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing, leads the field at Talladega

Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images

With its Toyota Camrys coming straight out of Joe Gibbs Racing, there was little excuse on the equipment side, but the team would clearly need some time to get up to speed. Thus, results had been hit and miss in 2021, with fifth place at Pocono and runner-up spot in the Daytona night race Wallace’s only true results of note.

But if you can finish second in the Daytona 500 at your first attempt, as he did with Richard Petty Motorsports in 2018, you’ve proved your appetite for ‘plate races’ – and for him to break his duck on a superspeedway was no surprise. The way Wallace made the third lane work for him on Monday to get to the front was hugely impressive – everyone knew the rain was coming and all the drivers were racing as hard as they would have done to the scheduled finish.

And this is where Bubba’s story with Talladega converges into headline news right across America. Ahead of the June race there last season, one of his RPM team members reported a noose upon opening his garage stall. NASCAR immediately assumed the worst, that a heinous act of racism had targeted its only Black driver.

“This is for all those kids that want to have an opportunity, whatever they want to achieve, to be the best at what they do. You’re going to go through a lot of bullshit, but you’ve got to stay true to your path" Bubba Wallace

Wallace had previously spoken out about the murder of George Floyd and was an advocate for the Black Lives Matter movement – he was very much America’s equivalent of what Lewis Hamilton was doing in Formula 1. He’d also played a prominent role in NASCAR banning the Confederate battle flag from the grounds of racetracks, and that – apparently – had ruffled some redneck feathers…

But as the FBI came to prove, the ‘noose’ was a simple pull-down rope on a garage door that video footage proved had been there since 2019. Yet something special had come of the whole affair: before the race that weekend, drivers and crews from every team joined together in pushing Wallace’s car to the front of pit road in a heart-warming show of solidarity behind him and against any form of racism.

This was all a far cry from NASCAR’s original trailblazer Scott, who sadly passed away three years before Wallace was born. Growing up in a segregated America, Scott faced racism at every turn in his quest to be a racing driver. When he graduated to NASCAR’s headline Grand National division in 1961, he scored the most points for a debutant driver – yet the Rookie of the Year trophy was handed to another, white, driver: Woodie Wilson only had one top-10 finish to Scott’s five…

In 2010, Scott’s family was finally handed the trophy from his sole race victory, 20 years after his death from spinal cancer. His racing career had effectively been ended by injuries in a horrible crash at – you guessed it – Talladega in 1973.

Bubba Wallace with Wendell Scott's family, 2014

Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker/Motorsport Images

Fast forward to Talladega 2021, and another Black American driver has finally matched Scott's breakthrough achievement of winning at this level.

“I never think about those things,” Wallace said in his post-race TV interview, his voice crackling and his eyes misting when asked for his thoughts on being the second African-American driver in history to win a NASCAR race. “Obviously it brings a lot of emotion, a lot of joy to the family, fans and friends. It’s pretty damn cool.”

And after being reminded of what happened at Talladega last year, plus the online hate he then faced, Wallace added: “This is for all those kids that want to have an opportunity, whatever they want to achieve, to be the best at what they do. You’re going to go through a lot of bullshit, but you’ve got to stay true to your path.

“Don’t let the nonsense get to you, stay strong, stay humble, stay hungry. There’s been plenty of times I’ve wanted to give up, [but] you surround yourself with good people… It’s moments like this you appreciate it.”

It comes against a backdrop of NASCAR being more actively inclusive than ever. It first launched its ‘drive for diversity’ project in 2004. Former NBA star Brad Daugherty – a Cup team owner and TV analyst – was a prime mover. Another staunch supporter was Joe Gibbs, who signed Wallace as a development driver when he was a part of that scheme. That he drove to victory in a Gibbs-built car is another completed circle.

Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing, Toyota Camry

Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images

Now the search is on to find more Black drivers (as well as other unrepresented minorities and females) to join Wallace on the grid in future. While he waited out the rain delay on Sunday, Bubba said he’d watched the ARCA Series race at Salem on TV, where 19-year-old Rajah Caruth (another drive for diversity product) scored his first top-three finish – just behind Coach Gibbs’ grandson Ty.

“Ironic how I was watching [Rajah], got pumped up for how well he ran there, then the win today,” observed Wallace. “Do I give him some credit for bringing some good mojo? Yeah, if that makes him feel better, I'll give him some!

“The diversity program is continuing to shine. I still continue to say without that deal back in 2010, 2011, I don't know if I would be here. I don't know if I would be in the top three levels of our sport without that deal.

“Just got to keep on going, continue to watch the talent come up through.”

As time passes, and generational attitudes change for the better, let’s hope Caruth and those that follow him don’t face the obstacles and hate that Scott and Wallace have done to achieve great things at the top level of the sport.

Race winner Bubba Wallace, 23XI Racing, Toyota Camry McDonald's celebrates in victory lane

Photo by: Lesley Ann Miller / Motorsport Images