Just saw a film called Greased Lightening that told the story of Wendell Scott (one of the few black drivers to make an impact on the world of motorsport). It appears that he actually won a NASCAR race in 1963 but was denied the glory as the win was given to Buck Baker in a blatant mistake. Anyone remember the incident or the man?
Wendell Scott
Started by
RichardB
, Jul 01 2003 17:26
21 replies to this topic
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#2
Dennis Hockenbury
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Posted 01 July 2003 - 17:46
From http://members.tripo...dway/scott.html
"Wendell's only big time win, a NASCAR race at Jacksonvlle, Fla., on Dec. 1, 1963. It's a simple wooden monument only a couple of feet high. It's also the reminder of a race Wendell won but was not given the honor of winning until a month after the race had ended.
Instead, Buck Baker, of Charlotte, N. C., was given the victory even though he finished in second place. Why was Wendell not given the win? He wasn't immediately recorded as the winner because of all the racial tensions of the times between black and white people. Wendell won the race. The flagman just didn't drop the checkered flag until Buck Baker raced by. Wendell knew he won the race and NASCAR officials finally admitted a month later that he indeed was the winner.
Buck Baker had already received the trophy, the glory and all the fanfare. Wendell demanded his prize money and was awarded the pathetic trophy that has no brass nameplate, and nothing to reveal its history or origin. With this incident and other frustrations resulting from racial prejudice, Wendell had every reason to quit racing and return to his humble auto mechanics shop in Danville. Instead, he decided to continue doing what he enjoyed most -- driving race cars."
My formative years were spent in NASCAR country, and I saw Wendell race a lot. Never a front runner, but a really good guy. IIRC, he was well liked by most of the other drivers. Richmond, Virginia in early 60's was a highly segregated environment, but Scott came along every year and had a few really good runs at the old dirt surfaced Richmond Fairgrounds where the Grand National cars raced at that time.
"Wendell's only big time win, a NASCAR race at Jacksonvlle, Fla., on Dec. 1, 1963. It's a simple wooden monument only a couple of feet high. It's also the reminder of a race Wendell won but was not given the honor of winning until a month after the race had ended.
Instead, Buck Baker, of Charlotte, N. C., was given the victory even though he finished in second place. Why was Wendell not given the win? He wasn't immediately recorded as the winner because of all the racial tensions of the times between black and white people. Wendell won the race. The flagman just didn't drop the checkered flag until Buck Baker raced by. Wendell knew he won the race and NASCAR officials finally admitted a month later that he indeed was the winner.
Buck Baker had already received the trophy, the glory and all the fanfare. Wendell demanded his prize money and was awarded the pathetic trophy that has no brass nameplate, and nothing to reveal its history or origin. With this incident and other frustrations resulting from racial prejudice, Wendell had every reason to quit racing and return to his humble auto mechanics shop in Danville. Instead, he decided to continue doing what he enjoyed most -- driving race cars."
My formative years were spent in NASCAR country, and I saw Wendell race a lot. Never a front runner, but a really good guy. IIRC, he was well liked by most of the other drivers. Richmond, Virginia in early 60's was a highly segregated environment, but Scott came along every year and had a few really good runs at the old dirt surfaced Richmond Fairgrounds where the Grand National cars raced at that time.
#3
Don Capps
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Posted 01 July 2003 - 17:59
Ah, Wendell Scott.... 
Scott won the third round of the 1964 Grand National Season held at Jacksonville Speedway Park on 1 December 1963. This was back when the NASCAR season usually began in November. At any rate, the stated reason for the initial nod going to Buck Baker was that the scorer for Scott missed FOUR of Scott's laps. It took over four hours for all this to be sorted out, by which time the trophy had disappeared.
To place some of this into a perspective of the times: Just south of Jacksonville at St. Augustine, there had been a rising cresendo of civil rights protests, which began in the late Summer of 1963 ans would literally explode in the Spring and Summer of 1964. While it is entirely possible that the scorer deliberately missed the four laps , it is also entirely possible that it was an "honest" mistake since scoring problems were NASCAR's biggest bane in those years (and the leading cause of fisticuffs in the Grand National Division). Despite the problems that such a fiasco generated, it must be said that NASCAR -- and Bill France, Senior in particular -- did what was Right and despite some fallout, shouldered the responsibility for the error and ensured that Scott was properly awarded the money and the credit for the victory.
Jackie Robinson had little on Wendell Scott. Unlike Robinson, Scott did not see the ranks of his competitors swell with fellow African Americans. Indeed, he was It for year after year after year. He was an enormously talented driver who dominated the Modified ranks in the Virginia area for a number of years -- it is estimated that he won something in the vicinity of 500+ modified features -- before he moved into the GN ranks.
I have always been convinced that had Scott driven for Holman & Moody or one of the other leading teams -- he was certainly good enough, that he would have been quite successful. He and his sons did all the work on the cars he ran. He used lots of "hand-me-down" parts, but he really wrung the best out of them despite a lack of resources.
He often used a few locals to augment his pit crew, which is how I got to help in his pits at Columbia, Green-Pickens, and a few of the other Carolina tracks in those days.
Yes, he had to endure much which would be totally unacceptable today. However, he rarely said anything, just got on with business. If there is any one racer to whom we should give our respect, it is Wendell Scott. A real Man in the best ideals of that term. I have to say that it was my privilege to have known him, even if only slightly. He ALWAYS offered us money for helping. I found the best thing to do was take the money (always cash) and given to a family member when he wasn't looking.
Also, Scott did an IMSA race and John Bishop told me that he was very impressed at just how good Scott really was. And, he asked to be paid for in cash.....
Scott won the third round of the 1964 Grand National Season held at Jacksonville Speedway Park on 1 December 1963. This was back when the NASCAR season usually began in November. At any rate, the stated reason for the initial nod going to Buck Baker was that the scorer for Scott missed FOUR of Scott's laps. It took over four hours for all this to be sorted out, by which time the trophy had disappeared.
To place some of this into a perspective of the times: Just south of Jacksonville at St. Augustine, there had been a rising cresendo of civil rights protests, which began in the late Summer of 1963 ans would literally explode in the Spring and Summer of 1964. While it is entirely possible that the scorer deliberately missed the four laps , it is also entirely possible that it was an "honest" mistake since scoring problems were NASCAR's biggest bane in those years (and the leading cause of fisticuffs in the Grand National Division). Despite the problems that such a fiasco generated, it must be said that NASCAR -- and Bill France, Senior in particular -- did what was Right and despite some fallout, shouldered the responsibility for the error and ensured that Scott was properly awarded the money and the credit for the victory.
Jackie Robinson had little on Wendell Scott. Unlike Robinson, Scott did not see the ranks of his competitors swell with fellow African Americans. Indeed, he was It for year after year after year. He was an enormously talented driver who dominated the Modified ranks in the Virginia area for a number of years -- it is estimated that he won something in the vicinity of 500+ modified features -- before he moved into the GN ranks.
I have always been convinced that had Scott driven for Holman & Moody or one of the other leading teams -- he was certainly good enough, that he would have been quite successful. He and his sons did all the work on the cars he ran. He used lots of "hand-me-down" parts, but he really wrung the best out of them despite a lack of resources.
He often used a few locals to augment his pit crew, which is how I got to help in his pits at Columbia, Green-Pickens, and a few of the other Carolina tracks in those days.
Yes, he had to endure much which would be totally unacceptable today. However, he rarely said anything, just got on with business. If there is any one racer to whom we should give our respect, it is Wendell Scott. A real Man in the best ideals of that term. I have to say that it was my privilege to have known him, even if only slightly. He ALWAYS offered us money for helping. I found the best thing to do was take the money (always cash) and given to a family member when he wasn't looking.
Also, Scott did an IMSA race and John Bishop told me that he was very impressed at just how good Scott really was. And, he asked to be paid for in cash.....
#4
Dennis Hockenbury
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Posted 01 July 2003 - 18:04
Don, I just can't seem to escape the 1963/1964 thing. I am doomed. 
#5
theunions
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Posted 01 July 2003 - 18:54
What IMSA race did he do?
#6
Don Capps
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Posted 01 July 2003 - 19:36
The April 1975 Road Atlanta race is the one I know about.
#7
David M. Kane
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Posted 02 July 2003 - 00:15
He was a special man for sure, apparently so was Charlie Wiggins from Indy
in the '30s.
in the '30s.
#8
RichardB
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Posted 02 July 2003 - 09:16
Don,
thanks for taking the time to post the backgrounder. I was fascinated by his story of what must have been a constant struggle. From what I have learned he seems to have been a 'true racer'.
thanks for taking the time to post the backgrounder. I was fascinated by his story of what must have been a constant struggle. From what I have learned he seems to have been a 'true racer'.
#9
Ray Bell
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Posted 02 July 2003 - 23:52
Originally posted by Dennis Hockenbury
Don, I just can't seem to escape the 1963/1964 thing. I am doomed.
Same as automotive model years of the time...
Are they still the same?
#10
Dennis Hockenbury
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Posted 03 July 2003 - 00:16
Yes they are Ray. An inside joke perhaps as I am struggling on another thread attempting to determine a date conflict which just happens in.....you guessed it ....... either 1963 or 1964.Originally posted by Ray Bell
Are they still the same?
#11
Nanni Dietrich
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Posted 19 May 2005 - 12:28
I've read the great Wendell Scott raced always #34, and this number became a "special number" for Afro-American (for example Charles Berkley and other NBA champion had #34).
Is it true? Or perhaps has the number 34 a previous meaning for black people, and did also Wendell Scott know?
Is it true? Or perhaps has the number 34 a previous meaning for black people, and did also Wendell Scott know?
#12
RS2000
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Posted 19 May 2005 - 12:57
I used to have a paperback copy of the book Greased Lightning but seem to have lost it. Mention of Richmond Fairgrounds above reminds me of returning to the rental car after the Old Dominion 500 as late as 1979 and finding 4 drunken crackers sitting on it "because it got Yankee plates and we reckon y'all a damn Yankee". Fortuitously, I was wearing a cap from the previous week's Southern 500 at Darlington that incorporated the Confederate flag and this won enough time to convince them I was from England and not from north of the Mason Dixon Line (where I actually did live at the time...). Handshakes all round - but it later gave me cause to reflect on Wendell Scott's earlier achievements (that were at that time being largely negated by Willy T Ribbs arrival on the scene...).
#13
HistoricMustang
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Posted 19 May 2005 - 20:36
Mr. Scott will be one of the names going on the AIR memorial on September 9th.
You will enjoy this:
http://www.thunderplex.com/
I had the pleasure of seeing him race many times. A master at taking the checkered flag - check out his top ten finishes as well as average start vs. average finish:
http://www.racing-re...er?id=scottwe01
Henry
You will enjoy this:
http://www.thunderplex.com/
I had the pleasure of seeing him race many times. A master at taking the checkered flag - check out his top ten finishes as well as average start vs. average finish:
http://www.racing-re...er?id=scottwe01
Henry
#14
MPea3
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Posted 20 May 2005 - 01:37
I may have been at that Road Atlanta race in '75 that Don mentions. IMSA was a pretty loose organization back then as far as credentials were concerned, and we were wandering through the paddock when one of the guys I was with saw someone he had met who was running a Pinto. To make a long story short, he only had his wife to help him, so we ended up being the guy's pit crew for the event and enjoying the race from pit lane. We didn;t do anything to really contribute to the effort, but for a group of teenagers, it was a great time.
I think I remember seeing Wendell Scott, and I remember mention of him at the time, but at this point 30 years later the whole thing is a fog.
Thunderplex is a great site, although it's special meaning to me is for the flat track photos. Great pics throughout, but the photos of Jay Ridgeway are special to me because i knew him in high school and followed his career as it began.
Also, this photo is great, showing Jay Springsteen in 1976. To think that 29 years later, he still is plying his trade on the bullrings of AMA's flat track series, and still doing it well. (He officially "retired" at the end of '03 but still runs selected races.)
I think I remember seeing Wendell Scott, and I remember mention of him at the time, but at this point 30 years later the whole thing is a fog.
Thunderplex is a great site, although it's special meaning to me is for the flat track photos. Great pics throughout, but the photos of Jay Ridgeway are special to me because i knew him in high school and followed his career as it began.
Also, this photo is great, showing Jay Springsteen in 1976. To think that 29 years later, he still is plying his trade on the bullrings of AMA's flat track series, and still doing it well. (He officially "retired" at the end of '03 but still runs selected races.)
#15
Barry Lake
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Posted 21 May 2005 - 10:37
Wendell Scott gets a chapter in the book:
"Dirt Tracks to Glory: The Early Days of Stock Car Racing" Sylvia Wilkinson, 1983, Algonquin Book.
Quite entertaining, if I remember correctly.
Also, though I can't lay my hands on it right now to double-check, I think he gets quite a lengthy entry in:
"Encyclopedia of Auto Racing Greats" Robert Cutter/Bob Fendell, 1973, Prentice-Hall Inc.
I have him listed as being mentioned in the following, but to what degree I do not remember:
"American Stock Car Racers" Don Hunter/Ben White, 1997, Motorbooks International.
"Automobile Quarterly 40-1" Karla A Rosenbuch Senior Editor, 2000, Automobile Quarterly Inc.
"Dirt Tracks to Glory: The Early Days of Stock Car Racing" Sylvia Wilkinson, 1983, Algonquin Book.
Quite entertaining, if I remember correctly.
Also, though I can't lay my hands on it right now to double-check, I think he gets quite a lengthy entry in:
"Encyclopedia of Auto Racing Greats" Robert Cutter/Bob Fendell, 1973, Prentice-Hall Inc.
I have him listed as being mentioned in the following, but to what degree I do not remember:
"American Stock Car Racers" Don Hunter/Ben White, 1997, Motorbooks International.
"Automobile Quarterly 40-1" Karla A Rosenbuch Senior Editor, 2000, Automobile Quarterly Inc.
#16
HistoricMustang
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#17
HistoricMustang
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Posted 02 December 2006 - 22:48
From todays AIRPS meeting. 
This Board Meeting also set in motion a process to present an additional
nine (9) driver names to the developers of the Manchester Sub-Division next
to the former Augusta International Speedway road circuit. These nine names will
be considered for future streets after the remaining names from the original
seven drivers are used. The remaining names are Ted Tidwell, Weldon Adams
and Ken Miles.
These three will complete the original list of seven drivers which were the three winners at the road circuit (Dave MacDonald, Ken Miles, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts) and the four Augusta natives that raced the road circuit.
By unanimous choice of the Board Members the next name that will be placed for consideration will be NASCAR driver Wendell Scott.
The other eight (8) driver names will be announced at the January 2007 monthly meeting.
Henry
This Board Meeting also set in motion a process to present an additional
nine (9) driver names to the developers of the Manchester Sub-Division next
to the former Augusta International Speedway road circuit. These nine names will
be considered for future streets after the remaining names from the original
seven drivers are used. The remaining names are Ted Tidwell, Weldon Adams
and Ken Miles.
These three will complete the original list of seven drivers which were the three winners at the road circuit (Dave MacDonald, Ken Miles, Glenn "Fireball" Roberts) and the four Augusta natives that raced the road circuit.
By unanimous choice of the Board Members the next name that will be placed for consideration will be NASCAR driver Wendell Scott.
The other eight (8) driver names will be announced at the January 2007 monthly meeting.
Henry
#18
Andretti Fan
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Posted 03 December 2006 - 00:53
Originally posted by David M. Kane
He was a special man for sure, apparently so was Charlie Wiggins from Indy
in the '30s.
I saw a special progran a few years ago on one of the discovery channels about black racers in the 20's and 30's. I believe Wiggins was featured in it. Very good and interesting program and subject. Anyone else remember it?
#19
HistoricMustang
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Posted 07 January 2008 - 10:03
I believe this is Wendell Scott's racing winning Chevrolet from the 1964 NASCAR Season at Jacksonville, FL.
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#20
HDonaldCapps
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Posted 07 January 2008 - 11:41
Yep, that seems to be the 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air (not Impala SS) that Scott raced until he got the deal for the 1963 Ford Galaxie 500XL in the Spring of 1964 from Holman Moody. Earl Brooks raced it in selected events after Scott got the Ford. I do not recall Scott replacing his original car during the time it was raced.
The color looks as I remember it, and the tow car is typical of the day, the trunk and back seat area full of all the parts and the other whatnot needed to keep the race team going while at the track.
It has been mentioned elsewhere, but the PBS special also had a book that discussed Wiggins and the series. It was an eye-opener for many, I am sure....
The color looks as I remember it, and the tow car is typical of the day, the trunk and back seat area full of all the parts and the other whatnot needed to keep the race team going while at the track.
It has been mentioned elsewhere, but the PBS special also had a book that discussed Wiggins and the series. It was an eye-opener for many, I am sure....
#21
HistoricMustang
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Posted 07 January 2008 - 21:00
Originally posted by HDonaldCapps
Yep, that seems to be the 1962 Chevrolet Bel Air (not Impala SS) that Scott raced until he got the deal for the 1963 Ford Galaxie 500XL in the Spring of 1964 from Holman Moody. Earl Brooks raced it in selected events after Scott got the Ford. I do not recall Scott replacing his original car during the time it was raced.
The color looks as I remember it, and the tow car is typical of the day, the trunk and back seat area full of all the parts and the other whatnot needed to keep the race team going while at the track.
It has been mentioned elsewhere, but the PBS special also had a book that discussed Wiggins and the series. It was an eye-opener for many, I am sure....
Don, I put this up as a result of the comment you made over at Case History concerning the 1964 season and a lack of information on Scott's victory.
I also understand a stand alone web site is in the works for Mr. Scott with a lot of information being provided by his daughter. The gentleman putting it together is very good and it should be an interesting view.
Henry
#22
ensign14
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Posted 07 January 2008 - 21:14
Absolutely. There had never been a hint of a scintilla of information about that entire series that I had ever seen before.Originally posted by HDonaldCapps
It has been mentioned elsewhere, but the PBS special also had a book that discussed Wiggins and the series. It was an eye-opener for many, I am sure....
