It’s the first Friday in February. I hope you have all enjoyed the first few days. Also, I had the opportunity to write an article for the Liberty Tribune Newspaper and you can check that out here. http://www.kccommunitynews.com/liberty-tribune-opinion/26717313/detail.html. Today I am going to focus on a sport that is near and dear to my mother’s heart; auto racing. We are going to take a look at Wendell Oliver Scott.
Wendell Oliver Scott was the first and only black driver to win a NASCAR Winston Cup (then the Grand National) race. The year was 1963. He was the first black driver since Rojo Jack (1923) to earn a national following. Scott began racing at Danville Fairgrounds Speedway in his hometown of Danville, Virginia, and won more than one hundred short-track Sportsman races, as well as several state and track titles. He moved to NASCAR’s premier division in 1961 where he made almost five hundred starts. In the summer of 1964 Scott won a short-track race at Jacksonville, Florida. Injuries in a race at Talladega ended his career in 1973. The 1977 film Greased Lightning, starring Richard Pryor, was based on his life. Scott was subjected to many slashed tires, or not receiving points he should have been awarded. His driving skills eventually led to a degree of recognition. From 1949 until his death in 1990, Scott owned and operated Scott’s Garage, where his skills as an auto mechanic were in great demand. A street in Danville was named for him in 1997. In 1999 he was one of five drivers, and the only black, inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame, in Talladega, Alabama.
Carney Smith, Jessie. Black Firsts: Groundbreaking Events in African American History. New York: Fall River Press, 2009.
For more information on Wendell Oliver Scott look here:
http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Wendell_Scott.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Scott
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