Wendell Scott: A Race Story

hello race fans and welcome out of the Jacksonville Speedway port December 1st 1963 as the stars of the NASCAR grand national series get set to put on a great race here in Korea this afternoon catch all the thrills and spills but Baker Ned Jarrett at a Hickory North Carolina on Augusta Georgia is Jack Smith and the color driver from Danville Virginia when Dale Scott all racing for you here today race fans pick you out a favorite who's gonna go home with the pros it's 1963 the civil rights movement is just causing a lot of friction in the south there are demonstrations there are racial murders there is a very divided bitter atmosphere in parts of the South at that time Wendell Scott the only black driver on the NASCAR circuit racing at a in a tough weight lower class neighborhood in Jackson gentle and black community around my friends along which the wife he's down there with those Hillbillies I'm read next so Wendell you know he yeah he had no help no help he integrated an all-white sport completely on his own he didn't have anybody in the executive levels protecting him like Jackie Robinson - he integrated southern stock car racing on his own seemed like every little stumbling block would make him just more and more determined he would fuse let anyone steal his dream it was deep embedded in his soul and our soul 6,000 the the South was still very segregated and so he was living in this environment and it wasn't easy for him to do he was a state champion in the nascar sportsman class and he still couldn't get a cup of coffee at a lunch counter we win Birmingham Alabama actually doing that heard that they were doing marches and Selma and Birmingham we have to go into a city where there may have been demonstrations or there been something going on racial tension well we didn't go to much we went to race we raced at the fairgrounds in Charlotte old February on track and we left home that morning just was just my father he come down there and they had advertised he was gonna be there and a lot of people there just to see this this Negro driver I'm weak but we have some mechanical problems that day really engine or something and we finished out of the and we have failure he didn't have a couple of dollars so he went to to promote it hoping to get you know some some total money you know just it won't give you much give you 10 or 15 dollars if you buy some gas so I was wondering if I can get me my tow money me and my my boy didn't get enough gas to get back home if you weren't even profiles mother today son don't you give all that mother's I was nothing when the yellow maybe next time you build yourself a motor that won't blow up fifteen laps before the end of the dang race you'd have to work a little harder ain't you he couldn't get anything I mean you know he told him you know so when we left the track he only had a cup of dollars we were here I'll be right back I never forget about a little icebox sandwich yes anyone take up half of you know I try to get used to no you know and he said now you eat it he had anything to eat but he made me the whole sandwich and I could remember him putting his arm around me and rubbed my stomach and it was a bad storm today we got back about 20 miles from down low and Troy gave up I guess and I'm his best and I was like a hurricane so who said no Saturday with no gas maybe a little gas left in the race car we got a gallon can like one hose so he went on cyclic a Zelda race tank for their he bought their gas in the tank if the man had given him $5.00 you know we wouldn't have to go through so he even do it a lot of hardships they were telling you unnecessary it was all because race all right be quiet people it would treat an engine like it was a lady man he would taste all you know he'd smell it I think he got the loss while automobile repair from his dad his father was a good at working on cars and he would sit next to his dad and watch what wrenches his dad was using and he got so he would know what wrench he should hand his father next was that bolt a 9/16 or a 5/8 and little Wendell knew that and he could and his father the right wrench he became a mechanical expert on bicycles as a kid he knew how to adjust those ball bearings so that there was the least amount of friction no only kids would come to wonder he was making these little homemade bikes run back then it's 50 window he grew up you know in a situation where boy people and black people got along in his neighborhood in Danville he that was his that was his early childhood experience he actually went to integrated schools as elementary years they were he went to school with whites and so it was an ism that's what that he never felt uncomfortable the ways all started years ago to the races and watch the races in some his pals they're going sit in the stands and they're like you know main thought you could do that you got nerve nothing's really said yeah I can do it and he recognized this is something that he really wanted to do but this was the early fifties he didn't know how to make that door open fortunately the promoters in Danville they were with an organization known as the Dixie circuit which was one of the regional competitors to NASCAR back at the time and they weren't making enough money and they wanted some kind of gimmick and they thought that having a Negro driver would be would be good for promotion so they went to the Danville cops and said you know who's the fastest black driver in town and the cops at uh we've been chasing him for years you want Wendell Scott he started driving vote like whiskey not long after it came back from World War two could outrun the cops he was good at outrunning the cops you had to be I think that's where he learned to drive a dirt track so good you know cuz he Hall up keep him old bootleg cause sideways all the way through them turns throw gravel all over the police cars he became addicted to the thrill of actually outrunning you know the the revenue or the police officers he had an addictive love of speed and competition that that carried very naturally into becoming a racer race fans to vibes who out of turn number two down the banks great way to beat in banging down into turn three slap out of turn four number 34 mrs. Baker waterloo's trap was really good a lot of people were falling out because it's having trouble when I was I think in his mind he said look eventually out all these holes keep this thing running I'm gonna have a pretty good finish today it was so much dust most the time you didn't know who was behind you know the who to let go who not to let go you couldn't even see him running too fast as cause they and all of those guys had factory backing there are faster cars than Scott but Scott had figured out a way to set up his car so it just flew over prompts the Negro's proper window skyrockets to the front ndele he'll win there he got to leave and he ran on from the left when Scott ran his first Cup races first Grand National race in 1961 the promoters and officials did not want the crowd to know that there was a black driver competing they never told the newspapers that this was the first day that a black driver has competed and at this level of our sport there were drivers who would reckon deliberately drivers who were just hostile on a personal level his first few years in the grand national level he had a lot of trouble with Jack Smith Jack Smith was just a very hostile person they were on the pace lap of a race and Jack Smith had had threatened to wreck them in that race Jack's Mia pull up beside of the ponies my dad like I'm gonna get you again a night away my father had to confront him let him know that you know I'm not I'm tired of this that ended his troubles with Jack Smith I always felt that Daddy would be able to handle himself but that my brothers if something goes wrong that something might happen quick that you couldn't erase there was a Harris North Carolina on that particular day man I tell you brother you know he had to use the bathroom really bad I got to go bad I went together tonight back to the track and I swear to God I saw the earth so like I never forget I was sipping up or whatever and I heard his voice trembling to to to to do or the bathroom so brother some people are here so late ah hey boys that was promised six beer drinking rednecks that's what they were looks like we got a couple of colors you don't know how to buy the rules is especially son can you not read the sign you know that says no you ever been face-first into a train boy daddy so my folks are with junior come on boy I thought you had to go to the bank which one of you is him I had to give a diss huh where's mine wasn't ones deleted I want the leader we didn't know who there was your voice Wendell huh we were just razzing himself mess with me not them damn it I'm ready to die for this is you I ain't got time to mess with y'all once I just go ahead and take yourself somewhere going on somewhere I tell you about messing around where you ain't supposed to be huh come on daddy's got a race you breathe don't mess with my family oh I love to see there to go around that Ridge track and then a special on a dirt track see the car go around that curb the hair stood up on my arms oh it stood up on my arm he was dirt track specialist I mean he'd love in their dirt track because he could slide he could off take a compensate for his lack of horsepower when he went on a turn there was two shot but now we'll forget he put his chest he gleaned it on the stern wheel and when he got in the turn he didn't turn it he snatched it and flow you could get your breath back in a little bit all the way up be what counted what a do good Drive slowly but surely with all that was going on in our country at that time windows sort of became a hero he had a lot of white fans I mean a lot of people always pulled for the underdog they looked at windows being an adult some of the biggest applause at these events from the white crowds and the stands would be for Wendell Scott I think he did a lot through the personal example that he said to undercut the stereotypes that support any kind of prejudice he had a passion and a love for the sport that that these southern crowds came to recognize and admire race bears wind down scoffs got a huge lead on the field it's his race to lose wrench 9/16 homeboy come on right 9/16 I got it daddy what'd you say Kent he didn't believe in Canada or never oh he told all of the children and he told that was there was a thing in my family that uh we just weren't allowed to use those words she's all worked on it hard work the sacrifices we make y'all gotta be independent I'll be punching nobody's caught there'll be old bosses here and here those kind of principles that he instilled in us and not only and still but showed us I began to get inspired Franken doll and Wendell jr. was you know 16 17 hello they come with my work haul half of the night and then go to school the next day there was nothing more important to me than helping him and in turn that would help the whole family I was always helpful in washing parts washing tools he would show me what to tear down he was emphatic about keep your family together mommy held all of us down she kept us straight she kept dead you straight Scott we've got these past due notices in the mail and if we don't pay this bill by the end of the month they're gonna kick us out how much real $800 I didn't try to talk him out of what I knew he was determined to do I really didn't okay well let's get back to work on that yes ma'am they were very close they were the sort of couple where one of them could start a sentence and the other one can finish that Mary Scott she was loyal to her man he and I working together we had same ideas in the termination the boys work on the car and baby girl back then she's gonna get it right this time we would go my brother he and I would be on the highway headed to Alabama Texas wherever and he'd have dude as a sign to us right and we'd had to be responsible he said brother look at that entry list for Huntsville Alabama Smith yeah mhm Castle yeah petty no Jarek know if it was sporty cause he said now mark off the ones we got that man will dust them anyway then he would say no mark off the ones y'all want me to try to out drive that's not gonna pay the mortgage now we need at least 12 10 if we could we were like top 10 focused cuz see top 10 meant the light bill was gonna be paid my third or fourth sister was gonna get new shoes this week that's the one the sky store what's that what's that Frank why do we have to do this why don't you just go and out drive these dudes I don't know if he ever really got to show he's a traveling ability because his equipment was never strong enough that he could go out and run a 200-lap race wide open most of the time when we went to the racetrack our car had all new parts on it when Dale would have to go to the junkyard and buy used parts he knew that he could only drive the car as fast as he thought he could and still expect it to be there at the end of the race because he needed to get a paycheck at the end of every race a their window how's the car looking today I tell you that I still could use some better bearings these junkyard parts is killing me I heard you're asking some of the other boys than anything you could use these parts ours done worn out he knows if you wanna just like the maid at your house people gave him you know you gave the maid your used sheets and your used shirts and all that kind of stuff that was the same thing with window he got used stuff he got things nobody else wanted and discarded was that kindness well in a certain way it was a benevolent kindness but did they give him new stuff I can't recall many people giving him anything Newton tell you need some of these top-line equipment of yours you'll be seeing me in victory circle one of them days right quick and be something window that sure would be something to see I sure would sure would all these big factory teams and all these guys you know with the fast cars they come down pit road they got pit crews or changing tires putting fuel in and here comes this 34 car you the driver gets out race waves window scuffs actually getting out to performers on pit stop I've never seen anyone do that before I'm sure they had air races I think they may have been using just you know hand reaches to change the tire and he gets the car cooled down and get some water in he puts her hey my close the hood goes back around gets in the carpet back out on the racetrack he goes I've never seen the number 34 run like this before when Dale scoffs actually got a chance to win it tonight well for about a witness history Wendell Scott is about to become the first Bikram driver to win a NASCAR race my Olaf Scott your kids swing that number comes before we return he wound up a lap ahead of the whole field you know he was the only only car in the lead lap it was a 200-lap race we left 200 km about it they wouldn't drop the chicken flat fans here comes the field out of turn number window scott about to take the checkered flag in i must be mistaken the fields gonna head back down into turn number one waiting for the checkered flag and the NASCAR official just stands there there's no checkered flag and he runs another lap same thing and then the checkered flag comes out for for buck Baker who was actually some laps behind and it's Baker's gonna play the checkered flag Jack Smith's gonna come home in second win Dale Scott will finish third when will had nobody well the window would probably even though he won the race they would have probably liked to have asked already now the track there was no confusion among the many drivers mechanics there at the track that day that Scott was leading that race everybody knew that buck hadn't won except for buck maybe there are literally thousands of drivers who raced in the series over the years that never got that opportunity to get into Victory Lane and when Dale's one time and then that moment of fame and glory that went along with winning a race was taken away from the promoter had said that they simply did not want a black man kissing the beauty queen at the trophy celebration and so they they could not have a black man win the race I talked to buck Baker's wife at the time Margaret Baker who was in the scoring skin stand and she was scoring for her husband and she turned to the NASCAR chief scorer and said you know buck didn't win that race and he was just disgusted because he won the race but yet they didn't want to honor him as a winner he was - laughs I had a buck Baker I mean you can't you can't deny that so eventually they came out said guess what when you did win the race we look back at the scoring sheets Wendell there was an error you finished first Baker second is your money what about my trophy 2nd place took it trophies gone what a lonely feelin biggest accomplishment of your life what you had worked your whole life for what you had devoted yourself to your family they've been warning there that hurts that would hurt anybody we did not celebrate it and will never celebrate it there is something that you accomplished that you dreamed of doing and hoping that this is gonna lead to better things and better opportunities for you and even it's a better way Scot knows he's pretty much at the end of his career and he still hasn't scored another victory since the Jacksonville victory and he decides to go over his head and debt and to buy his own highly competitive car he got this mercury was red white and blue it looked like it had been designed for the American dream he didn't pawned everything he had he was really in the hole financially because of doing it everything that we owned were due to hone we're paying for more just everything he had two properties with both his properties uh putting enough money together to purchase that car and it was a beautiful machine I mean he was the first time we'd had him 242 429 engine got him really a good race car I could build a car in a first-class car first-class equipment finally got a chance to maybe drive and use his driving skill because he had a car good enough to run get Talladega was the fastest track in the United States this was going to be his chance to prove himself you know sometimes you gotta go this track is the adrenaline razor two point six six miles long the infield alone consumes 315 acres large enough to hold 31 Superbowl Fields undisputedly the largest and fastest racing and testing facility in the world dadless shook hands with a personality that day before the race and and I knew he didn't want to shake hands with him this very man had declared war on my people Governor George Wallace appeals for calm the federal officers are armed with a proclamation from President Kennedy urging the governor to end his efforts to prevent two Negro students from registering at the University his element he made a campaign promise to stand in the doorway himself to prevent the integration of the last all-white State University I felt kind of ill inside and this was just before the start of the race every race here is shrouded in a cocoon of tension and anxiety for the drivers and spectators alike 60 of the finest late-model stock racers in the country pour out of pit row and onto the track and when they drive dick that green flag I'm thinking he's lost his mud he was go air rings with us we started fifty-eighth position on first lap he paid us 18 cars he was flying in the early part of the race he was coming up from the back of the field he was passing one car after another he said to me and finally knew what it was like to drive a proper car on a Super Speedway and it was one of the happiest moments of his life oh look out on the backstretch into that the backstretch looks like a junkyard I've never seen so many race cars fenders hoods drivers out safety trucks look like a bomb went off I went down pit road and Dave Marcus came to my room he came in and I went I said I said Dave did you see decals they hadn't been around a couple of and I remember saying Frankie I think your dad is dead did the Rekha talladega did that pretty well end your career in Grand National races well it yes you really did it off I would write what they did because I hadn't been doing good and my boys told me you would get in race and I'll get out of the race so I borrowed money and faulting every a great cop you got it 12 piece for it too okay and then of course you had some physical injuries as well they said yeah they took me nine years that car hey Sarah well you got it you got a lot of memories to think back over and things I guess you'd say well boy I wish I hadn't done that no I do not over you do it he never announced his retirement he never said I'm quitting racing would you still like to run a Grand National car I really would I do what a real good one had I still think I'm capable of running with the best he would a real good car I'd be like a fool the world for years in his retirement he still held on to that dream that maybe somehow it could still happen for him I think maybe that's why those cars were still sitting around in the weeds just in case during the year that I knew him he discovered that he had cancer and and finally had to let go with that dream my father passed away from cancer of the spinal column and I always tell myself it was from his many many years of hard work those nights and days on a cement floor when his garage working until till his last days I don't think it's enough words in the dictionary to express how great a father he was he afforded me and my sisters and brothers an education college education out of his own pocket was a great man and I loved him dearly I'll guarantee you that before he passed he and I had relived every cup race that we went to and the way we did it is I have two books sometime he'd use a pink magic Molly told me bring me wanted him off-color madness up and I'm a pink one and he got all kind of highlights in that and then he would tell me how he dealt with whatever the track situation was the competition everything eaten after that for me to to go through a man sitting my little rag in the house and turn them pages when the skies surprised one in Jacksonville 100 bucks Baker was flagged a winner that's we're dead ahead two Bs was flagged to one of Jack's miracles original hell has run up Scott jumped out his 62 Chevrolet and insisted he had one I knew I won that race got claims god I had a laugh bug Baker three times this is BS stood as a way mega zester he never got the trophy that upset him warn't anything I'm sure the trophy meant as much to him as the money even as bad as leaders he needed the money my father wasn't one of his trophy he never got we have a Hall of Fame in Jacksonville called deck fields Saco recent hall of fame and he's been a member of Hall of Fame since around 94 believe I think it's gonna be a good night and I really hope that it turns out to be a good thing for the middle Scott family that should have been done the night that he won the race whose thing they have been looking at me he's looking at all those leaders have been a long time coming to give this trophy to ember you know he's not here to receive it tonight wish he was his family's here and hopefully he's here with us in spirit tonight to receive this we'll go take dead his trophy to his grave site which is just up the street from us and we're gonna tell him that we got your truck thank you very much this is wonderful my father's looking down tonight the main thing that he was hoping and dreaming that this would what to what he had done we have somebody else did things that he had done but opened doors for other people he's tried to leave their legacy he's an exception I mean if you look at all the people have won races in NASCAR how many black guys are wanting a race only one that's Wendell I began to look back and try to find out who the successful black drivers were and it was it was pitiful they just weren't there NASCAR has made more stripes than most people know we are never going to see another Windell Scott but I think that we can see people who Wendell Scott would be very very proud of the driver diversity program is a pretty narrowly focused initiative for NASCAR what we're charged with is a responsibility of finding minority and women candidates that we can develop for future opportunities as drivers and pit crew members in sport last year validated the model with Darrell Wallace being the first African American in over 40 years to win in Touring Series race competing for the championship winning Rookie of the Year Michael cherry the first african-american to win a late-model race at Hickory Motor Speedway ryan Gifford the first african-american to win a pole sérgio Pena sat on the pole at the Toyota all-star showdown we are a continuation of Windows Scott's legacy he's opened the door at all we needed that door opening and here it is and now we just got a walk through he's a legend in our sport especially for the minorities I definitely have been a huge role model me he set the road for us and he paved it and we're you know he stopped at a point and now it he handed it down to us you'll never be forgotten daddy's legacy will live on and on and on they definitely a pioneer because he broke the color barrier for his winning races in right now even after 61 or 62 years how old mass quarry is he is the only black man and Sarah won a race without a doubt the most tenacious race driver we ever had to be able to go through all that in those days when you've lived those moments is so we have to take control fee to his gravesite who him to really know that he was later recognized 47 years that's a long time but thank God it it eventually happened

Channel: Gage Howell

Views: 188,218

Keywords: racing, wendell, scott, story, movie, docudrama, cvsc, carolina, vintage, stock, cars, nascar

Id: rnPvPqPYyHA

Length: 49min 38sec (2978 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 24 2011