Save a spot in the NASCAR Hall for Wendell Scott

    Two names I expected to see among the candidates for the NASCAR Hall of Fame were Humpy Wheeler and Bruton Smith. I didn't.

    A name I needed to see was Wendell Scott. For the first time, he was included.

    Scott came out of Danville, Va., cotton mill country, and the mill life was not for him. Racing was, racing other drivers and before that racing revenuers and running moonshine.

    He won only one race. He never had superior equipment. He did what he did with what he had.

     He did it on tracks that did not welcome black drivers. This was before diversity. His car regularly was jolted and banged into by competitors and he couldn't retaliate because he was not on his turf and he wanted to prove he belonged by beating them. Although he didn't make a lot of money or win a lot of races, he did over time win the respect of the other drivers.

     I've read what Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron went through in baseball, the voices they heard, the taunts and the hate. I have no idea what it would be like to step onto a field, or strap into a race car, and know I was disliked not because of who I was but what I was. Man, the courage that must take.

     Scott won in Jacksonville in 1963, the first and only black driver to win a major NASCAR race. He ran 495 races in 13 years.

     Five nominees will be selected. I hope, and suspect, that Scott will be one of them.

 

 

 

Comments

[Alan Williams]

You are so right Tom. This should be a no brainer for the powers that be. I got to meet him a couple of times back in the late 80s when he would pick up parts at the warhouse I worked for and was absolutely one of the nicest people ever and just a joy to talk to. He is NASCAR's Jackie Robinson and deserves to be honored by the HOF for his legacy! End of discussion!

[Barney Barnhardt]

Was lucky enough to get seats at Darlington one year directly across the track from his pits. That man was like they say about a Timex!!! He took a lickin' and kept on tickin'/comin'!! He needs to be in there a whole lot more than some that already are and some that have been mentioned for this year's crop.

[Anonymous]

Wendell did his thing among a bunch of rednecks that hated him for the color of his skin. Dale Earnhardt and others helped him on motors from time to time. He was a good man.

[NK]

AGree on Scott. The HOF is underperforming, badly. So, instead of nominating NASCAR's version of Bill Veck, it puts up another France. Makes perfect sense.

[knowledgeable]

Disagree on Scott who was of mixed race heritage if it matters. They havent even elected Bruton Smith yet who owns more big tracks than any. Scott raced 495 races and won one. Is that HOF? All drivers had limited resources in his day. You dont make the HOF based on race do you? Early NASCAR was amade of up of poor moonshiners. Read up. No millionaire drivers or owners like Indy who never had a black driver or owner or black HOFer.

Scott was a swell guy and all but some of these ignorant bigots who hate racing and know nothing about it have biased agendas to disrupt it with deranged thinking.

Too many idiots watch some Hollywood movies that are 80% fiction plus there is always the anti-southern or lib bigotry.

Earnhardt helped Scott? Earnhardt Sr didnt begin racing until mid to late 1975. Scott retired in early 1973.

[Nike Free]

Wave after wave of heavy rain it is struggling to cope, the concave shape of this thing must not be ignored, even if it is the thunderstorm days need not be afraid to fashion items to accompany spent.

[Malk]

While the person above gave you some good advcie, I would go a step farther. The only way to check what the value of your cars is to see what people are willing to pay for them. Look on EBay and see what the going price is. Any collectible is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.

[Sanamol]

A guy with a NASCAR book to sell calls NASCAR the new national pitasme, and you bite. Shrewd!Poor, poor, dying baseball and its rising 2005 attendance (ticket-buyers apparently want to catch one last look, while they still can). You might have noticed the reaction to the wheezing relic's championship team last year. You won't get that coast-to-coast response to any racing championship or event, not ever, not even if the ghost of Earnhardt manifests himself, wins Indy while driving the Flying Dutchman (#3), kicks a goal, and strips down to his sports bra to celebrate. As a Massachusetts native, you tell me. Which team inspires more devotion, discussion, and attention: the Red Sox, or the Patriots? The recent Congressional steroid hearings subpoenaed all the major sports. Did you hear about anything other than baseball? Why would the public care about Mark McGwire so much, while simultaneously not giving the slightest crap whether or not NFL statistics were "clean"? Gosh, and I thought weekly gambling.... excuse me, "football," was supposed to be the #1 sport in America's heart.What, I wonder, compels you to repeat the same false charge every 6-12 months that baseball is again on its last legs? Were you molested by the San Diego Chicken? No matter; you keep floating this necrofantasy of yours, and I'll keep knocking it down. Here's the latest set of contrary facts, in what seems destined to be a never-ending series shipped your way:Spurs 7-game nailbiter: 8.2 avg. rating, 15 shareRed Sox 4-game sweep: 15.8 avg. rating, 25 shareNBA Game 7: 11.9 rating, 22 shareMLB Game 4: 18.2 rating, 28 shareAnd congratulations to the 2004-05 NBA champions, the Something Something Whoevers. You might remember the National Basketball Association. As you happily noted at the time, they were the unstoppable sports league that buried baseball in the 1990s.