NASCAR COMMUNITY
The NASCAR Community Takes a Stand
Since the tragic death of George Floyd in late May, people throughout the United States and the world have rallied together to shine a light on issues of racial injustice and inequality that have long been a part of American life.
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BY JARED TURNER NASCAR has been no exception to this movement. In fact, one could say NASCAR has been among those groups and organizations that have led the charge. In an effort to become even more inclusive and welcoming to people of all colors, nationalities and backgrounds, the sport’s leadership took the bold step in June of abolishing the Confederate flag from all NASCAR tracks. The death of Floyd – an African American man who died a senseless, horrific death while in Minneapolis police custody – also led NASCAR’s top drivers to share a message of unity in a video where they came together to raise their voices for justice and change in America while condemning racial inequality. The video, entitled “Listen and Learn: NASCAR drivers stand up for equality,” aired numerous times during FOX Sports’ race broadcasts and was widely disseminated on social media in the days and weeks after Floyd’s death.
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POLE POSITION 2020
In addition to all of this, the commonly held belief among drivers that change is necessary in American society has made drivers extremely unified – perhaps like at no other time in the sport’s history – and this has been evident in their social media posts, interviews and overall attitude toward racial injustice and inequality. Among those applauding NASCAR’s diversity and inclusion efforts is Dr. Jason Cormier, a prominent and highly influential African American neurosurgeon who is the founder and CEO of Motorsports Safety Group, which serves to provide a comprehensive, grassroots marketing campaign focused on preventative health care education and wellness training among NASCAR’s constituents. Cormier was especially pleased to see the support that NASCAR as a sanctioning body and its drivers have given in recent weeks to Bubba Wallace, the NASCAR Cup
Series’ only African American driver. In addition to being the face of NASCAR’s push for greater inclusion, Wallace was the focus of one of the truly great moments in NASCAR history when all of his fellow drivers joined together to push his car to the front of the starting grid in June at Talladega Superspeedway a day after it was believed that Wallace had been the target of a hate crime in the Talladega garage. Thankfully, evidence later proved that no hate crime had been committed, but the show of solidarity and love for Wallace among competitors and many fans in attendance spoke volumes of the unified mission in NASCAR to heighten public attention to issues of racial inequality and make the sport an even more welcoming environment for all. “I think that NASCAR is certainly making some huge adjustments just in terms of trying to diversify the field, but not