White Privilege in NASCAR

First I will start by saying that I am an enormous NASCAR fan. I love to read about and study the history, culture and those odd chain of event circumstances. I love the cars and the sounds and the smells of burning rubber and fuel. But I have never been a fan of the stigmas that comes with the term "NASCAR fan". As soon as I tell someone that I am a fan, you can imagine many of the assumptions that come with that. I was reading a book called, Sport, Spectacle, and NASCAR Nation: Consumption and the Cultural Politics of Neoliberalism, when I came across a sentence that really turned some gears (pun intended). "Whiteness in the United States can be understood largely through the social consequences that it provides for those who are considered to be non-white."(98) We all know that.

Wendell Scott, from Danville, Virginia, was the first African American to race and NASCAR's top level and(in 1964) the first to win a race. There were, of course, people that were not pleased with the fact that he even raced amongst them. Then there were those who were willing to help him and his very small and underfunded race team. He never had the nice expensive cars that would have enabled him to show his true talent. Sponsors and many car owners helped him along the way, but it was difficult for them to put their full support in him due to the social climate of the time. White privilege. They didn't have to help. The companies and owners were better off staying away from him instead of risking the public backlash. Even more sad was the fact that many drivers and fans alike didn't really see him as a person. They saw him more as a side attraction. "A black man driving that car. Who woulda thunk?"

Despite all of the objections and obstacles, Wendell Scott came away with a pretty healthy stat sheet at the end of his career. His one win would not go into the record books without controversy though. It took 2 hours after the race for him to convince them that he was the winner. Another African American would not win in any of NASCAR's top 3 series' until 2013.

Darrell Wallace Jr. from Mobile, Alabama broke the color barrier for the first time in nearly 50 years. (Side note: One of the most interesting things is that Wallace won in Martinsville, Virginia, which is only 27 miles away from Scott's hometown.) So, does this mean that white privilege had been wiped way in NASCAR? Possibly. Some analysts argue that it is more of a class privilege simply because of how much money it cost to get into racing even at the lower levels. But to it seems that it would be difficult to spark interest in people that have no vested interest in a sport. Okay so we have a black driver. Cool. We have a few women. Cool. Whats next? How do we get the sponsors that would interest other types of people to see the value in the sport. It is getting better, but still has quite a long ways to go.