Wallace, the only full-time Black driver in the Cup Series, called it a “once in a lifetime opportunity.”
— REUTERS, HuffPost
Basketball great Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin have partnered to form a new single-car NASCAR Cup Series team that will feature Bubba Wallace as its driver, the trio said on Monday.
Jordan, a six-time NBA champion, will serve as principal owner of the team with Hamlin a minority partner while he continues to drive for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Featured Image, JARED C. TILTONGETTY IMAGES
Full article @ HuffPost
Context
Wendell Scott
Wendell Oliver Scott (August 29, 1921 – December 23, 1990) was an American stock car racing driver. He was one of the first African-American drivers in NASCAR, and the first African-American to win a race in the Grand National Series, NASCAR’s highest level.
Scott began his racing career in local circuits and attained his NASCAR license in around 1953, making him the first African-American ever to compete in NASCAR. He debuted in the Grand National Series on March 4, 1961, in Spartanburg, South Carolina. On December 1, 1963, he won a Grand National Series race at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida, becoming the first black driver to win a race at NASCAR’s premier level. Scott’s career was repeatedly affected by racial prejudice and problems with top-level NASCAR officials. However, his determined struggle as an underdog won him thousands of white fans and many friends and admirers among his fellow racers. He was posthumously inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.