Did You Notice?… NASCAR, in just the past seven days, has enthusiastically joined the Black Lives Matter movement. Bubba Wallace, in a CNN appearance Monday night (June 8), said the sport needs to ban confederate flags, for decades a symbol of its southern roots. And Kirk Price, an African-American official, was celebrated, not criticized, as he knelt during Sunday’s (June 7) national anthem at Atlanta Motor Speedway prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race.
In what is believed to be the first time a competitor or official has kneeled during the national anthem in the Cup Series, NASCAR official Kirk Price took a stand against police brutality. https://t.co/iPUGcvvpfj
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) June 9, 2020
In a heartbeat, a sport with momentum formed from its early, successful return from COVID-19 gambled by entering the political arena. In doing so, it took 70-plus years of complicated racial history and shred it to pieces.
As a 30-something white male, I can’t begin to understand what it’s like to suffer prejudice due to the color of my skin. The best thing I can do, as a leader and a journalist, is simply listen. And one of those conversations happened in NASCAR in 2008, the year I sat down with Mauricia Grant for Sports Illustrated. Grant was the sport’s lone African-American female official who filed a $225 million harassment lawsuit against the sport.
The full transcript of that interview is here. I’ll never forget it. To this day, it was one of the most powerful one-on-ones I’ve been a part of in my career. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount before trial, but Grant’s accusations went public and rocked the sport. She came across as traumatized by her experience, having to stop and cry several times, and large parts of her story came across as authentic.
Here are a few excerpts.
In the lawsuit you state that Nappy Headed Mo was a nickname that one person used for you. Did you get the sense that the people you accused in the lawsuit were above reproach?
“I felt that everybody was so loose, the culture in the garage was loose. It was nothing like any type of office environment I had ever worked at. Nothing that was politically correct about the environment. So, anything goes … it wasn’t controlled. I definitely felt that I had no one to complain to.”
What was your worst fear?
“That I would get hurt. Heading out every week felt like sometimes, especially on the long road trips with one official, our conversation always went back to the KKK with him. When we were in the car riding around with him, it was like KKK this or black this — just really picking my brain about being black or the black experience.
“I used to have thoughts of, ‘Is this official going to pull over — you know, we used to have to travel from Atlanta to Tennessee through the Blue Mountains, through these remote places, and I felt like sometimes — ‘Am I going to get a detour that I’m not aware of that’s about to happen?’ It’s a scary feeling … because it’s real remote, and I was thinking, ‘Is it going to happen now? Is it going to happen now?’ I was real nervous a lot about that.
“There was one time in Bristol where a crew member came up to my ear and he said, ‘You’re going to love getting kidnapped.’ And what do you say to that? It was such a weird, freaky thing to say where I started thinking, ‘Is that a flirtation or is that a threat?’
Keep in mind these experiences came to light in 2008, the same year Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. 12 years is not a long time ago for a sport that’s spent the better part of the 21st century trying to redefine its image.
It’s a stock car series whose lone African-American driver to win in Cup, Wendell Scott, fought racism throughout his career. Scott’s lone victory, in Jacksonville at 1963, wasn’t given to him until hours after the race due to a scoring error. It’s a mistake his family believed was intentional, designed to keep a black driver from kissing a white beauty queen in a segregated south.
NASCAR made no bones about supporting that segregation in its early days. The sport didn’t just openly support Alabama Gov. George Wallace in the run-up to the 1968 presidential election; it invited him to the Southern 500 that year. According to The Early Laps of Stock Car Racing: A History of the Sport and Business Through 1974, NASCAR CEO Bill France Sr. lavishly praised Wallace to cheers in front of a crowd of 70,000.
“George Washington founded this country,” France said. “And George Wallace will save it.”
Sources have told me through the years NASCAR supported a Wallace bid for president all the way through 1980. He remained a friend of the Frances, influential in the construction and financial success of Talladega Superspeedway.
These are just some of the stories that color NASCAR’s impression on race. In 2020, hard numbers show only limited growth in this arena. Wallace remains the lone African-American driver on the 40-car grid each week. Compare that 2.5% rate of black athletes competing at the highest level to over 80% for the NBA.
The sport has pushed for change, but every two steps forward have come with one step back. NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity initiative specifically targets women and minority candidates, providing them equipment and opportunities they might not otherwise get. But the program’s most notable success story, Kyle Larson, torpedoed his career by, of all things, using a racial slur on Twitch. Others have found the program hypocritical, as careers stalled out with no corporate sponsorship that would follow them after graduation.
Four years ago, NASCAR stepped into the political arena again with then-CEO Brian France’s exuberant endorsement of President Donald Trump. Even though Trump’s disparaging comments toward Mexicans forced the sport to relocate its Xfinity and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck series banquets off Trump properties, France wasted no time lining up drivers offering support.
“I’ve known Donald for over 20 years,” France said at a rally in Valdosta, Ga. “I’m going to tell you one thing: you know about his winning and success. He wins with his family. Any of his children, you’d be proud to have in your family. That’s how I judge a winner.”
Among those on the stage that day: NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award winner Chase Elliott. Elliott, by the way, was featured in NASCAR’s #BlackLivesMatter video released at Atlanta and played on FOX Sports before the race.
We will listen and learn!#BlackLivesMattters pic.twitter.com/AYoYdY8IlX
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) June 7, 2020
Then, during the 2016 election, kneeling for the national anthem to protest police mistreatment of African-Americans first became a major story. The sport’s response? Varied, but the critics were vocal.
“Get you a ride on a Greyhound bus when the national anthem is over,’’ longtime car owner Richard Childress said on pit road in September 2017. “Anybody that works for me should respect the country we live in. So many people gave their lives for it. This is America.’’
Does that include his grandson, Ty Dillon? Two-and-a-half years later, Dillon is widely credited with sparking NASCAR’s reaction to the George Floyd protest movement gripping America. His Instagram Live conversation with Wallace helped spark a marked change in the way his sport reacted to race. Wallace followed up with open support of Floyd Sunday on pit road.
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) June 7, 2020
Then, NASCAR finished it with strong words from its president, Steve Phelps, expressing the need for change.
“The black community and all people of color have suffered in our country,” Phelps said with the field stopped on the frontstretch. “And it has taken far too long for us to hear their demands for change. Our sport must do better. Our country must do better. The time is now to listen, to understand and to stand against racism and racial injustice.”
Wallace, as an exclamation point on top, then pushed for the removal of confederate flags in an interview with CNN’s Don Lemon.
“There’s going to be a lot of angry people that carry those flags proudly but it’s time for change,” he said. “I encourage NASCAR to have those conversations… we should not be able to have an argument over that. It is a thick line we cannot cross anymore.”
And if fans say no?
“Get back on the road where you came from.”
So what happens now? There’s a hard truth: the sport loses fans in the short term. The NFL lost interest during the national anthem protests because fans, expecting sports to be a diversion, were thrown headfirst into politics instead. No matter what side of the issue you’re on, entertainment isn’t supposed to be exhausting.
Myself and several Frontstretch writers lost followers on Twitter simply by reporting Phelps’ and Wallace’s actions this week. For some readers, this article will be the last they read on this website. It’s just reality; majority support does not mean universal. I agree with the comments of my colleague Bryan Davis Keith, who said Monday, “Those of us that watch for escape… [who] don’t give a flying F about what millionaire athletes of all colors/creeds do/say/think other than wheeling their damned cars… [now] safely get to grin and bear it.”
The confederate flag will also be a larger, more challenging step in this fight. As recently as the Charlottesville riots in 2017, fans were open about the importance of that symbol to them. At the end of that year, Frontstretch surveyed a cross section of fans at Homestead-Miami Speedway about Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s pending retirement. A solid majority, unprompted, specifically mentioned NASCAR’s noncommittal stance on the anthem and its southern roots (i.e., Confederate flags) as to why they’d keep following the sport after their favorite retired.
But as these protests keep gripping the country, over two weeks in, it’s a rare moment the sport should take a political stance – and fight for it. The knock over the past decade of a shrinking fan base is NASCAR is being whittled back to a regional sport. What better way to open yourself up to someone that doesn’t care about you, due to their own preconceived notions, than by shattering the mold of who people think you are?
“How about NASCAR and what they’re doing?” Lemon said after Wallace’s interview to his next guest. “Wow.”
It’s a moment in which his outlook on the sport changed forever. May he be the first of many.
About the author
The author of Did You Notice? (Wednesdays) Tom spends his time overseeing Frontstretch’s 40+ staff members as its majority owner and Editor-in-Chief. Based outside Philadelphia, Bowles is a two-time Emmy winner in NASCAR television and has worked in racing production with FOX, TNT, and ESPN while appearing on-air for SIRIUS XM Radio and FOX Sports 1's former show, the Crowd Goes Wild. He most recently consulted with SRX Racing, helping manage cutting-edge technology and graphics that appeared on their CBS broadcasts during 2021 and 2022.
You can find Tom’s writing here, at CBSSports.com and Athlonsports.com, where he’s been an editorial consultant for the annual racing magazine for 15 years.
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The exact quote attributable to Wallace (as per Jayski’s) was:
“No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race. So it starts with Confederate flags. Get them out of here.”
Last year there was an incident at a Starbucks where a patron didn’t “feel comfortable” when a police officer sat near her. She expected the officer to move or be moved by management.
Here is a question, where in the constitution or the Bible does it state anyone should have the expectation of, or right to, being “comfortable” at all times wherever they go? There are things others do that make me uncomfortable and I am sure at some point I have made others uncomfortable. That’s life and that’s the boat we are all in.
You know what,,,, Tough Shit. You feel uncomfortable then deal with it. There is no guarantee to comfort in life. If someone does something that makes you uncomfortable then maybe it’s your problem. Others have a right to do things too and as long as they are not actually hurting you physically then grow a pair. Geez, what a bunch of pussies society has fostered with all this feel good, politically correct bullshit.
If you can burn the American flag as freedom of speech then you can wave the Confederate Flag the same. NASCAR requested fans not to fly the flag at speedways several years ago. I saw nothing wrong with that. They will go along with banning the flag as it is the politically correct thing to do these days. However this does not make it right.
For whatever reason black people do not support oval track racing. Be it local or national racing they are not into it. I’ve been attending oval track races since 1952. Sixty-eight years. I’ve never seen any form of racism at any track I’ve attended. I’ve heard Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt and others booed and jeered at at but I never heard anyone boo Wendell Scott. In fact after races and fans were allowed to go in the pits to meet the drivers after a race Wendell always had a large group of fans around him. I have his autograph. Now I’m sure there were instances where he encountered problems but they were obviously not that big a deal as they are made out to be. I have the first book about him. Hard Charger it’s titled. It was in Maryland at Hagerstown Raceway that they refused to pay him his winnings after a race. Wendell was just one of the many have nots that tried to be successful in NASCAR. He was in the same boat with Cecil Gordon, Elmo Langley, Bill Siefert, J D McDuffue and a host of others.
Folks are nit flying that flag as a symbol of racial hatred. They fly it as part of their heritage and love of their homeland. We are told to respect others and their feelings while disrespecting those we don’t agree with. That’s just not right.
My feelings toward Wallace are the same as I feel about other athletes and celebrities. I pay to watch you perform I have no interest in your religion, politics.
I’ve always been curious why folks didn’t fly the Confederate flag between 1865-1954? Oh, it was around cemeteries, sure. But why did “heritage” disappear for 90 years? And why did it all of a sudden come back in the 1950’s?
So you were around in 1865 and traveled the south extensively to confirm that NO ONE flew the confederate flag during that period?
Man, you must REALLY be old.
1865-1877 yankee occupiers prevented Confederate symbiology, veterans reunions, etc at the barrel of a gun (kinda like today). From then on the South was identified in mass media, etc in a positive context with the battle flag.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2007/11/charley-reese/hooray-for-the-confederate-flag/
Well great then. You’ve answered History Buff ‘s question as to why folks didn’t fly the confederate flag for those years. They were forced not to by threat of death. Still leaves 73 years unaccounted for but it’s a start.
Thanks for chiming in!
Yall dont know the meaning behind the flag,You can start banning flags,for one thang yall charge too much to even go to a race and another thing you dont like our flag well we dont like your drivers find some real backwoods drivers that will race not pussy foot around and yall pussys dont let our flag intermediate yall grow some balls nascar
Chester Buttram
Just get rid of Bubba Wallace
Tom, to say you can’t understand what it would be like to be discriminated because of your color of your skin is nieve, you can still understand something without maybe have experiencing yourself but the only true form of government sanctioned legalized discrimination by definition in this country is affirmative action and I’m assuming you’ve probably been a victim of that
This whole narrative is dumb for so many reasons, one of which I will never bow down to. What I am amazed at and (not really) the idiots who believed this whole “Scamdemic/Pandemic BS and now this! It baffles me and mine! This BS with the virtual signaling and apologies for being WHITE, is just absurd. What you idiots do not get, no matter how many times you apologize to the MOB GROUP THINK for something you did not do, it is never, ever enough! The RAGE IN THE MACHINE is real and it will not run out of steam! This is by design, social engineering, a fully well funded machine! LOOK IT UP! WAKE UP FOLKS! NASCAR with PSA of drivers promising to “LEARN” is just beyond flucked up! Learn what?
Somebody tells you that you suck because you are white, and you need to donate or something to even the score? Screw that! You need to turn over your hard earned dollars to the mob, and then you are cool with them and they you? Not how it works in the real world, they will keep at it!! Watched it for years. You are entering the SHAKE DOWN ZONE! The pandering is a huge problem and not doing anybody in America any good. Been seeing this crap for decades! Stop this crap. I will not watch the race tomorrow. “BUBBA” (of all people) running around in circles with BLM as his sponsor is the last straw. Sick shit. Wake up! You loons with your “feel good” BS, need to head to the nearest shrink to understand your self loathing is mental illness, and the mental satisfaction you seem to crave from the group think crowd! Imo.
The whole media narrative and business such as NASCAR to portray these people ruining lives, business, burning down buildings, our historical places, etc. as “victims”. The excuse for these idiots with the lack impulse control of a two year old just beyond belief! Hard working people’s lives are being ruined…etc. NASCAR is enabling this totally false narrative, that can be verified! Look it up!
You sound very emotional, like a snowflake ripped by the wind. I’m sorry looking at a car emotionally scarred you, but thank you for being politically correct and exiting peacefully.
Well said, thank you!!
I am with you, NA$CAR is dead to me. My local track will be getting all of my money. It has also been over 2 years since I have bought anything NIKE.
I think Nascar has a VERY long row to hoe. It is obvious that it isn’t going to be easy to change attitudes, and even more obvious why people are protesting all over the world, not just in the US.
I had planned on watching Martinsville. Not now. A back marker crash maker who’d normally get very little tv exposure is going to be the center of fawning attention for a cause celebre that is awash in emotion, not facts.
Not that facts matter anymore, but if bubba wants an honest history on the “civil war” I recommend these:
The Real Lincoln by Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo
From Union to Empire by Dr. Clyde Wilson
The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History by Dr. Tom Woods
The South was Right by James & Walt Kennedy
A Constitutional History of Secession by John Remington Graham
War Crimes Against Southern Civilians by Walter Cisco
Emancipating Slaves, Enslaving Free Men by Jeffery Rogers Hummel
That’s just off the top of my head…
Assuming the link is allowed, more inconvenient truths based on empirical data:
https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/en/news-page/news-nation/instagram-censors-fbi-crime-stats-graph-as-hate-speech
I am done with this sport, Bubbles might as well kneel during the anthem. This is sickening what he is doing to this sport. There is no racism, its dead and gone, but corporations, nascar and the media are dying to keep it alive to villiainize all of us !
I never thought Nascar would go into the crapper, but here we go ! No martinsville for me and no more track visits !
I tend to be cynical in nature and no exception here. This was done more to keep the heat off team and NASCAR sponsors so they aren’t accused of doing nothing or stepping in it like the CEO of the Charlotte area security company.
So lets say the Confederate flag is banned at NASCAR events. OK. How does that work exactly? Lets look at a scenario. It is 11PM along the Blvd at Talladega. The flags are flying everywhere. Who is going to go in there and tell folks to take their flags down? I just don’t see how this is enforceable. Not to mention that pesky Constitution thing about free speech.
If you fly them on track property then they decide what is free speech and can tell you to take them down. If you don’t comply they get a couple ‘Bama Smokies to escort you to the exit gate. Not saying I agree but that “pesky Constitution thing” ain’t what it used to be.
Personally I’ve always thought the confederate flag LOOKED cool (I’ve always thought the British and Brazilian flags LOOKED cool too). Otherwise it has no meaning to me personaly. If I own a confederate flag it’s buried deep in a closet somewhere with other souvenirs I got when my 5th grade class went on a trip to Gettysburg in the early 70s. I suggest that anyone who is upset by this go to the track and wear a t-shirt with the confederate flag on it as a protest to banning it (if that’s the route NASCAR goes). There is no way NASCAR is going to want to wade into the deep waters that trying to censor what people’s t-shirts say will lead them.
NASCAR doesn’t want to wade into the race discussion, but their hand has been forced. Confederate flags and t-shirts with flags will likely be banned soon. They will have to, otherwise the media and social justice warriors will target them and attack not just NASCAR, but also any/all sponsors in NASCAR until they concede. No corporation will take an anti-PC stance, as it is too costly to do so.
Our nation’s founding fathers were indeed wise to recognize the importance of our rights and took steps to prevent our Government from abusing those rights, but they could never foresee the technology that allows The People to revoke rights AND punish others without our government being involved.
Some will argue, “But it is good if we are doing this to end racism”, and that’s hard to argue against. I personally don’t believe anyone should be judged or treated differently because of their race/looks. However, we must acknowledge that once proven effective, these tools could just as easily be used for evil as they can be for good. We now must find a way to protect The People from themselves.
So just like in the NFL, we have a mediocre (if even that!) driver/player who is a minority and decides to get attention by all of a sudden being the social conscience of the entire sport.
I am glad that I pretty much gave up on NASCAR a couple of years ago.
Seems to me that Bubba will have a ride as long as he wants it. Nascar should get Danica back for a match race to see if one of them can actually win a race. Wouldn’t that be politically correct?
NASCAR don’t fall into the trap. It will never be enough!
I think that bubba’s statement “get back on the road where you came from” is not a statement nascar wants to hear. Think that is already happening over the last years. Now bubba wants more fans to stop coming to races.
This from an also ran.
oh it will be interesting to see what is broadcasted tonight. will the national anthem be broadcasted showing the possibility of drivers taking a knee. funny tim tebow took a knee to say a prayer and his action was criticized.
regardless of what goes on in the world, we CANNOT REWRITE HISTORY. we need to learn from the past and grow each day. it’s real simple folks, just follow the 10 commandments, the basis of most of the laws that we have now.
beinig someone who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, i pray the country doesn’t digress.
Amen, Janice.
I’m taping the race so I can skip over the pre race BS. NASCAR’s will get on their knees and as a long time race fan I would find that extremely offensive. We stand for what our flag represents. Corporate leaders are trying to appease an angry mob. England appeased Hitler. See how that goes.
And that pre-race BS could be extensive tonight, if the forecast thunder storms actually happen.
I rarely watch the pre-race anyway. Once in a while I will leave it on as background noise if I am doing things around the house before the race starts.
You know, that knee thing killed the NFL as half the fans strongly supported it, and half the fans strongly were offended by it. I doubt NASCAR will fare any better if they allow it to become a thing since their fan base may be the most conservative as any. They better make sure they don’t piss off their paying customers to make those scrutinizing them from the sidelines happy. I hope they are smart enough to reign it in before it happens. They better be real careful with what happens during the anthem.
The sport got it’s death sentence Sunday. What you will witness through this season and the next few is the execution. There were people just looking for a chance to kill NASCAR, now they have it and they have someone on the inside to help them who is untouchable. Imagine if Bubba gets wrecked tonight (or more likely wrecks someone else) with that paint scheme.
I was proud of you NASCAR, for opening up the sports scene as an ice breaker. As of now, I am completely disgusted with your fawning B.S approach to politicizing a unique sport. You folded to an upstart driver that saw an opportunity to be the “poster boy of the new NASCAR”, and political group of snowflakes and racist haters. We watched sports as an escape from all the political Bull Crap we have to put up with in the every day world. Thanks a lot for screwing up big time. You thought you had attendance and viewer problems before? You ain’t seen nuthin’ yet! Been nice knowing you. signed: past fan from way back in the late 60s
Al Sorensen- AMEN sir!
NASCAR is trapped. I have stuck with them for a long time. I like the chase, I like the stage racing because it breaks up some of the long aero runs at cookie cutter 1.5 mile tracks, the racing has been better. Now it’s all shot to hell. Guys like Mike Bowles have to dance to the tune, so you can’t blame him. He has to act Woke to keep his job. The sudden lovers of NASCAR who fake embrace it because the wildly racist white hating Don Lemon interviewed a back of the pack Affirmative action driver and got him riled up will never attend a NASCAR race nor will they embrace the sport. The sport received it’s death sentence last Sunday. The next few years will be the slow execution of sentence. It will start with the kneeling during our National Anthem tonight, and go down hill from there. OBTW, I don’t support waving the Confederate flag or even displaying it, nor do I support or condone the Black Lives Matter (when it suits us) flag or movement. But if I may paraphrase Voltaire……I will defend to the death your right to wave them!
i hope that all of you got this upended when
– Larson used the N word – and lost his job (all over the media)
– When political sponsorship took place: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-04/trump-campaign-gets-a-race-car-courtesy-of-nascar-owners
– When dale jr denounced the flag: https://www.autoweek.com/racing/nascar/a1872056/dale-earnhardt-dale-jr-both-opposed-confederate-flag/
we’re all getting caught up in the flurry of events – this all stems from racism. People feel (yes, feel) attacked by what that flag symbolizes. I am going to go on a limb and say, none of your are racists (i could be right, i could be wrong) – but maybe it’s time to just HAVE THE CONVERSATION – and then figure it out. Who knows – I don’t know – I’m one person in a sea of 7.8 billion – you guys may all HATE what i have to say. So be it. If you’re all done with the sport – you’re sure making a big deal of something that shouldn’t inherently bother you any more.
I suspect, i’ll get a couple of “Fuck you’s” and “Eat shit” and “you’re a pansy bitch” responses – and that’s cool – but realize that seeing something from another view point doesn’t force you to agree, it just forces you to listen.
Never understood why so many people have an affection for the “Stars n Bars’….
It’s the flag of the LOSERS!
In this country we salute the winners. For that matter, what other countries erect monuments to the LOSERS of wars?
Are you really Americans? 1865 is more than five generations ago, get over it.
You already have a flag you can wave, you know, the one with 50 stars on it. The one your fathers and grandfathers fought under.
GTFOH
“It was 1875, almost five generations ago.. gtfoi!!” What you stated is completely hypocritical. You can tell others that as well.. it works both ways, SIR.
“You already have a flag you can wave, you know, the one with 50 stars on it. The one your fathers and grandfathers fought under.”
And this too will soon be banned because it offends so many. The American flag can still be burned at a Nascar race which offends many but its free speech so its protected. Funny how free speech is selectively protected.
I am trying to figure out when Bubba got so offered with Nascar’s racism.
Kyle Larson said the “N” word and Bubba forgave him. Why didn’t Bubba react then as he is doing now?
And if Nascar , team owners, drivers, and fans are so systematic racists. Why did Bubba even want to be part of such an endeavor?
These are just some of the stories that color NASCAR’s impression on race. In 2020, hard numbers show only limited growth in this arena. Wallace remains the lone African-American driver on the 40-car grid each week. Compare that 2.5% rate of black athletes competing at the highest level to over 80% for the NBA.
The answer is simple. There are not many drivers of color, for a simple reason. And it’s not racism. It’s is what a prior poster wrote. For whatever reason, there are very few blacks participating in the entry levels. Finances are a part of it. Racing at any level is not cheap, especially if one has aspirations to make it to the big leagues.
One more thing to ponder. Are not the take a knee, burn the flag protesters who do these things for the same reasons they express about the confederate flag. According to them, the Stars and Stripes represent the same things that they hate the confederate flag for.
Disrespect for the flag is their motivation according to their own words. They don’t mind flying the flag of Mexico on one hand while they proclaim to be intimidated by the American flag.
The next thing you know is that NASCAR will dispense with the presentation of our national anthem. It will be done because many people harbor so much animus for the flag, that they don’t feel welcome.
As an aside. Whatever happened to affirmative action and having quotas so that activities will have a proportionate representation for all races, colors, creed, etc.
25 years watching NASCAR and they are going political with BLM on a race car I’m done with NASCAR until they stick to racing . Been done with football since that jack ass on the 49ers and base ball and basketball will be next
but this one was ok?
– When political sponsorship took place: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-04/trump-campaign-gets-a-race-car-courtesy-of-nascar-owners
NASCAR has been trying to make the sport WWF and NBA for the last few years with all the smoke,lights,stages,playoffs etc. Well I guess they finally arrived with take a knee and no confederate flags.After all, everyone knows African Americans made NASCAR what it is today. Go ahead and ban the Stars and Stripes and The National Anthem too.I’m glad Junior Johnson and Dale Earnhardt are not here to see this mess. I’m DONE with NASCAR. Good luck boys,uh I mean bros.
Little Rock Nine protests.
George Wallace.
Emmit Till lynching.
Jim Crow laws.
Mary Turner lynching.
Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination.
Medgar Evers’ assassination.
Birthplace of the KKK.
Flag of Dylan Roof.
Such rich heritage that flag carries with it. indeed.
I’ve been watching NASCAR for as long as I’ve been able to operate a television. The kind of television with a rotary knob. I’ve never been more proud of the sport than I have been in the last couple weeks.
Take your stupid flags home. It’s been a wort on the sport for DECADES.
Later, Ray Ciccarrelli. I just heard your name for the first time yesterday. Good luck with the sale.
The drivers should take a stand and not race if the Stars and Bars fly at any event.
Now is the time.
So people at Nascar races can’t fly or display the Confederate flag. Because some people are offended by it. But its ok for fans to fly the flags of ISIS, Hamas, Antifa and BLM. Do these flags not offend some people? What about the American flag? There are many people offended by it, how long before that is gone? Where does it end? It dosen’t, it will never end. The vocal minority will always want more.
Most of these replies answer any questions about the prevalecne of racnsm in Nascar, don’t they?
Well said CDZ
Listen the only flag that should fly is the American flag. Now with that said I do not think sports should be a place to vent your political views. I am still deciding if I will continue to watch nascar after Bubba is wearing a black lives matter shirt. In my opinion all lives matter he is making a statement that only black lives matter and I take offense to that.
Bubba Wallace just making his job secure… He cant be released or denied a ride cause if that happens he has his Race to back him up… Besides Why he called a black man instead of a Half Black man…
Everyone bring the actual confederate flag to the race and see who all gets offended. The bars and stars isn’t the official confederate flag but those wanting it removed are too stupid to know that
Google confederate flag and the one they want banned isn’t the actual confederate flag but the snowflake pansies wouldn’t know that
“As a 30-something white male, I can’t begin to understand what it’s like to suffer prejudice due to the color of my skin.”
Well, as a 55 year old white male living in a 97% black/brown enclave just outside Washington, DC I can personally “understand what it’s like to suffer prejudice due to the color of my skin”. I don’t get it from any of my more senior neighbors (45 and older and with whom we are all more than reciprocatively sociable) but its the generations prior that have been taught to show utter disdain and contempt for others. It’s not enjoyable to have a group of teens walking up the street feel the need to say, loud enough for me to hear, “Man, I’d have to kill myself if I were white”. Having 12yo kids ride by on their bikes chanting “I am a black man, I am a black man”. Having my sister, who works in retail, being threatened with “You want me to put my knee on your neck and choke you out” for doing nothing more than her job of asking for a receipt! These are absolutely NOT isolated experiences nor is it only a recent one. We all know how one-way streets can be excruciatingly frustrating.
As for NASCAR — I’ve seen them bending over backwards over the last few years to encourage inclusivity. Unfortunately to watch (or at least attempt to) a race but seemingly only being fed BLM style NASCAR produced infomercials back-to-back after their president(?) gave a capitulation speech (probably spurred by a Sharpton shake-down) has me tuning out.
Bye, bye NASCAR.
Nascar has grabbed the last nail in its coffin Black Lives Matter and Antifa are both Marxist Communist organizations screw this crap all lives matter. We have done fine the last 3 months Nascar can go away forever I no longer give a tinkers damn about a Company who sells out to Terrorists
I’m not a Gearhead, but I am a staunch defender of my Confederate ancestors. Any accusation that you can level at them, I can hurl back with equally or more vile charges against practically any other ethnic group, nation or association of people anywhere. In fact, when you really begin comparing the Old South to other parts of the World, or even the hypocritical, avaricious Northerners, you will quickly find that the Southerners held the moral high ground. If challenged, I can elaborate in ways that probably 98% of the people I come into personal contact with have no knowledge of. My Life Doesn’t Matter. My Honor, My Heritage and My Soul, Do.
will I see bubba Wallace and blm people at a gar cemetery to pay tribute to the fallin union soldiers who died to free them over the Fourth of July holiday?