NASCAR Stands with Driver Bubba Wallace Against Racism

NASCAR attempts to make their events more inclusive by banning the Confederate Flag from their events and standing with their only black driver, Bubba Wallace, in his activism and support of Black Lives Matter.

Article By Leah Whalen

With the addition of Bubba Wallace, the only current black driver, to the NASCAR team, things have begun to change rapidly. Bubba Wallace has stood proudly with the black community after the death of George Floyd, a man who died due to a police officer kneeling on his neck. Bubba wore a shirt with the words “I Can’t Breathe”, a popular slogan used during protests as they are often the last words of those who die at the hands of police brutality, like George Floyd. He also announced that his car in the Martinsville Speedville Race will be painted in honor of Black Lives Matter. Part of Wallace’s activism included requesting the ban of the Confederate Flag at races. These flags are now looked upon as a symbol of a time where slavery was encouraged and Black people were not treated as equals. Given its deep, dark roots entangled in our past, it only took two days for NASCAR to accept his request and then announce the ban. In the tweet where they announced this change, NASCAR explains that they want their tracks to be a place where all racing fans feel welcome.

This is radical for NASCAR due to the fact that their fan-base is mostly from the conservative south. Many people who are against the ban are the ones that feel that the flag does not represent racism, but rather, southern pride. It is, after all, a symbol of southern economic propensity as well. The Confederate Flag had previously been a large part of the tradition when it comes to NASCAR. The winner of the race would have a character by the name of Johnny Reb (who was a confederate soldier from the south) sit on the hood of the vehicle. Although this tradition no longer takes place, it was still hard to go more than twenty feet at a NASCAR race and not see a Confederate Flag. But apparently, not anymore.

In the past, NASCAR has previously tried to decrease the number of Confederate Flags at their races. They had offered for an exchange to take place, where they would have the race attendees wear an American Flag in exchange for the Confederate Flag. However, this did not make much of a difference because it was an option rather than an enforced rule. In addition, it did not stop people from wearing hats or pieces of clothing with Confederate Flags on them. From what we see in the current political atmosphere, NASCAR will probably be less lenient and encourage that their fans take on the idea of “American Pride” rather than “Confederate Pride”.

The Effects

Due to the current COVID-19 Pandemic, NASCAR has not seen the full effects of this decision since an audience is not allowed to watch the races in person. Bubba Wallace already said that he does not feel comfortable driving into the track’s infield after races to interact with fans, as he previously had, because of the virus and this decision. He feels in danger for speaking out; the FBI even had to lead an investigation of a rope found in his garage that was believed to be a noose and was a threat to Wallace. The investigation later found this theory to be false. Besides the fact that there was no one way people to know which garage number Wallace would be, the rope was supposedly just used to pull the garage down.

The biggest piece of backlash has come from the President, who said in a tweet, “Has @BubbaWallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX? That & Flag decision has caused the lowest ratings EVER!” The hoax, President Donald Trump is referring to, is the “thought to be” noose in Wallace’s garage. Wallace reacted by a tweet telling the black children who will be following in his footsteps to be wary that people will always be looking for their mistakes, and sometimes, that person may be as powerful as the President of the United States.

As far as ratings go, many people are tuning into NASCAR for the first time, as they hear about Wallace and want to support him as well as the changes that NASCAR is making. On the other hand, some people with strong feelings threaten to leave the arena and revoke their years of support for NASCAR. The retired NASCAR driver and three-time Winston Cup Series Champion, Darrell Waltrip compared the threats made to leave the sport to the people who had threatened to move to Canada if Trump was elected. He believes these are idle threats on social media that people will not follow through with. If you are a fan of the sport then he believes this should not affect whether you watch the races or not.

Sources

Breuninger, K. (July 6, 2020). Trump Rips NASCAR for Banning Confederate flag and Targets Black Driver Bubba Wallace. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/06/trump-rips-nascar-for-confederate-flag-ban-targets-black-driver-bubba-wallace.html

Macur, J. (June 13, 2020). Bubba Wallace Thankful for Flag Ban, but NASCAR Fans Might Not Be. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/13/sports/bubba-wallace-nascar-confederate-flag.html

Vera, A. (June 9, 2020). NASCAR’S Bubba Wallace will have Black Lives Matter Paint Scheme on Car at Martinsville Speedway Race. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/09/us/bubba-wallace-confederate-flag-trnd/index.html