This is a major statement in that sport
NASCAR drivers’ cars are usually covered bumper-to-bumper in ads for everything from motor oil to home insurance. But Bubba Wallace’s No. 43 Chevy will promote something very different during Wednesday night’s race at Martinsville.
Wallace, NASCAR’s only current Black driver, and his team, Richard Petty Motorsports, unveiled a special Black Lives Matter paint scheme for the race.
The car features “#BlackLivesMatter” over the rear wheel, while the hood and back bumper have the phrase, “Compassion, Love, Understanding.” The top of the hood has an illustration of Black and white hands interlocking (you may recognize the image from Drew Brees’s apology Instagram post).
“We knew that the Martinsville race was open—we did not sell a sponsorship for that—and it sparked an idea of, why not run a blackout car?” Wallace said in a video posted on RPM’s Twitter page. “Our team brought that idea to me and I jumped all over it. ... Why not dive in straight to the root and put #BlackLivesMatter on the car?”
What makes Wallace’s statement especially powerful is that it’s not the safe thing to do. It goes much further than RPM’s vague statement about “recent tragedies” released last week. NASCAR fans, according to a 2011 Scarborough Research poll, are 80% white and only 9% Black. Forty percent of them live in the south. Confederate flags are still flown by fans at racetracks, despite NASCAR’s 2015 request that they be left at home. (NASCAR refused to outright ban the pro-slavery banner at its tracks, but Wallace this week called for the organization to issue a true ban.)
If you want to kill a significant portion of your brain cells, click through to either of the tweets above (or this one from @NASCAR) and read the replies. Twitter isn’t the real world, but you can bet that the idiotic replies are reflective of at least a small part of the audience. There are some morons who will stop watching NASCAR because a driver dared to speak out in favor of equality. But there are surely also some people who had never heard of Wallace before, were impressed by his willingness to take a stand and will tune in to see how he does in the race.
Poster Comment:
Same Guy:
NASCAR Bans Confederate Flag After Black Driver Demands Action
#1: Bill D Berger To: Liberator, Esso, Ada, NeoconsNailed, Former Lurker (#0)
Bill D Berger posted on 2020-06-11 03:33:30 Reply Private Reply
#2: noone222 To: Bill D Berger (#0)
noone222 posted on 2020-06-11 07:22:15 Reply Private Reply
#3: Lod To: Bill D Berger (#0)
Lod posted on 2020-06-11 08:08:24 Reply Private Reply
#4: BTP Holdings To: Bill D Berger (#0)
I am thinking the Dukes of Hazzard and General Lee would stand a snowball's chance in hell on this one. ;)
BTP Holdings posted on 2020-06-11 08:21:03 Reply Private Reply
#5: noone222 To: Lod (#3)
"Racist" !
noone222 posted on 2020-06-11 08:31:49 Reply Private Reply
#6: NeoconsNailed To: Bill D Berger (#1)
It's been clinical all our lives but has reached total psychopathy. Dr. Robert Clarkson used to scoff at the many forms of "worship of the holy negro" that surrounded us in his time, and if he could see things now!
I simply can't believe how literally insane it is -- and all because of kike supremacy over the ex-free world and then some. It's an unbearable, loathsome travesty AND GETTING WORSE EVERY DAY!
NeoconsNailed posted on 2020-06-11 11:46:43 Reply Private Reply
#7: Esso To: Bill D Berger, 4um (#1)
Please, don't give them any ideas. NASCAR is losing fans due to their needless grovelling and the season being all messed up due to the wuFlu.
Bubba Wallace RAGE QUITS in iRacing to lose NASCAR sponsor
NASCAR's first prostrating adventure in 2020...
Kyle Larson, a Japanese/American driver, was the first to lose his job and sponsors this year while playing a video game.
Esso posted on 2020-06-11 11:50:15 Reply Private Reply
#8: Esso To: noone222, 4um (#2)
He's black. I don't think he's ever had a win in the NASCAR Cup Series though.
Esso posted on 2020-06-11 11:54:36 Reply Private Reply
#9: Esso To: Lod, 4um (#3)
He finished 11th out of 39 in last night's BLUE-EMU MAXIMUM PAIN RELIEF 500 at Martinsville Speedway in an empty arena, due to WuFlu.
Blue-Emu is the sponsor that dropped Bubba due to his temper-tantrum during iRacing while the season was suspended during the lockdown.
(Edit) FWIW, the hood and rear quarter panels are some damned expensive real estate on a NASCAR racecar. I'm thinking maybe a million, give or take. Since Bubba blew his sponsorship I guess Richard Petty had to put something on there.
Esso posted on 2020-06-11 12:01:16 Reply Private Reply
#10: Screen Name To: Esso (#9)
Screen Name posted on 2020-06-11 12:13:23 Reply Private Reply
#11: Esso To: Screen Name, 4um (#10)
Beats me, I haven't been to a race for two years.
I suppose you could buy a ticket starting at about $100 and find out when spectators are allowed back someday.
It used to be a pretty cool experience.
Esso posted on 2020-06-11 12:25:15 Reply Private Reply
#12: Dakmar To: Esso (#11)
Might have trouble with the fast turns, probably some aerodynamic disadvantages too.
Dakmar posted on 2020-06-11 12:33:07 Reply Private Reply
#13: Lod To: Dakmar (#12)
Lod posted on 2020-06-11 12:37:34 Reply Private Reply
#14: Esso To: Dakmar, 4um (#12)
Esso posted on 2020-06-11 16:34:33 Reply Private Reply
#15: noone222 To: Esso (#8)
No shit, what do I know ... I don't follow any racing except horses. And I haven't done that since I left California. Del Mar and Santa Anita were almost a second home for years.
noone222 posted on 2020-06-11 18:42:39 Reply Private Reply
#16: Esso To: noone222, NASCAR, 4um (#15)
I'm not much of a sports fan, but I've followed NASCAR for nigh on 60 years. They're losing me. Kneeling just doesn't get it for me. Their recent worship of military and everything government started making me uncomfortable 10+ years ago.
Esso posted on 2020-06-11 18:58:19 Reply Private Reply