J
Jim Dutton
Guest
Good article on Wendell Scott
http://www.fueleconomytuneup.com/2012/04/wendell-scott-nascars-first-sucess-story/
http://www.fueleconomytuneup.com/2012/04/wendell-scott-nascars-first-sucess-story/
ted@economy
in the interest of equal time
FenderBumper
The "good old days" ??
Nice article. It's nice to see that many drivers were open minded, but unfortunately there was a high percentage of a**hole.
Greg
2014 RF YAHOO CHAMP Your leader
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Good article, I was able to see Scott race at the track at least two times.
I was serious from the beginning and followed the race events and I digested every detail a 9 or 10 y/o boy could master.
In the bedroom I had a throw rug and I had an oval outlined including pit road with masking tape on the back side. I had a couple of my Dads old cigar boxes full of any matchbox or Hot Wheels cars I could find.
I even tried free ones from cereal boxes.
I ran a lot of races during the week, even to the point of rubbing off the paint. I even painted the rub offs. Matchbox had better wheels, an off track excursion into the shag carpet didn't ruin them as badly.
So the drivers were my heroes, and please don't disrespect them. But sadly I was too young to grasp the gravity of Scotts racing.
At the time the local schools were just starting desegregation, and a lot unjust habits will not change overnight.
Scott surely understood that he wasn't going to get a fair shot. There was probably a lot of things he knew and had to keep to himself. Racing was not a as respected then, every year my school teachers gave me the you are fool for wanting to be a driver lecture.
My 5th grade teacher said he knew Ned Jarratt and he claimed that Ned retired to avoid dying, and the money was no incentive in the day.
I bet Scott heard it a million times more, imagine a black man wanting to race in the 60s?
But the boy in me can still reflect, for a guy like Scott to pursue his passion, well he must had a lot of inner strength.
Scott was a racer, he is one of us, part of the family. Doesn't mean he was treated as such, but he was still worthy.
He is a story worth telling, he must have been graceful to have lived such a life.
I was serious from the beginning and followed the race events and I digested every detail a 9 or 10 y/o boy could master.
In the bedroom I had a throw rug and I had an oval outlined including pit road with masking tape on the back side. I had a couple of my Dads old cigar boxes full of any matchbox or Hot Wheels cars I could find.
I even tried free ones from cereal boxes.
I ran a lot of races during the week, even to the point of rubbing off the paint. I even painted the rub offs. Matchbox had better wheels, an off track excursion into the shag carpet didn't ruin them as badly.
So the drivers were my heroes, and please don't disrespect them. But sadly I was too young to grasp the gravity of Scotts racing.
At the time the local schools were just starting desegregation, and a lot unjust habits will not change overnight.
Scott surely understood that he wasn't going to get a fair shot. There was probably a lot of things he knew and had to keep to himself. Racing was not a as respected then, every year my school teachers gave me the you are fool for wanting to be a driver lecture.
My 5th grade teacher said he knew Ned Jarratt and he claimed that Ned retired to avoid dying, and the money was no incentive in the day.
I bet Scott heard it a million times more, imagine a black man wanting to race in the 60s?
But the boy in me can still reflect, for a guy like Scott to pursue his passion, well he must had a lot of inner strength.
Scott was a racer, he is one of us, part of the family. Doesn't mean he was treated as such, but he was still worthy.
He is a story worth telling, he must have been graceful to have lived such a life.
FenderBumper
The "good old days" ??
Great perspective Greg. Speed ran a show on him, and said he had borrowed $80K to get a top car. He brought it to Talladega for it's first race, and got caught up in a huge wreck. He was lucky to survive, but his new car was totaled. I think he said it took 10 years to pay it off while he went back to racing junk.
M
MOEJOE
Guest
There always are some out there. And they always get the attention.