1 / 18

Wendell Scott

emmy
Download Presentation

Wendell Scott

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

    1. Wendell Scott The first African American Race Car Driver

    3. Wendell Scott, the only black driver in NASCAR for virtually all of his career, probably earned more respect than he did money. His career was a constant struggle with low budgets.

    4. The Danville, VA native started racing in 1947. In his first race, he finished third in a borrowed car, won $50 and was hooked. In the next few years he won 128 hobby, amateur, and modified races, on the old Dixie Circuit and outlaw tracks. In 1959, Scott enjoyed his best season ever. He won 22 races and captured the Richmond track championship as well as the Virginia State Sportsman title.

    5. Wendell and one of his older race cars.

    6. Wendell’s Car Hauler

    7. Scott bought a year-old Chevrolet from Buck Baker in 1961 and moved up to NASCAR's Grand National (now Winston Cup) division. In 1963, driving a car he bought from Ned Jarrett, Scott finished 15 in the points.

    9. The First African American to Win a NASCAR Race NASCAR ran a split season then, and the third race of the 1964 season was on December 1, 1963 at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, a one-mile dirt track. Scott beat Buck Baker to become the first black to win on NASCAR's highest level, a distinction he still holds.

    10. In May of 1964, Scott was down on his luck and almost out of racing when Ned Jarrett set up a deal for Scott. He was able to obtain a Holman-Moody Ford that had been raced the year before in USAC for a dollar. Driving that car, Scott finished 12 in points despite missing several races. Over the next five years, Scott consistently finished in the Top Ten in the point standings.

    11. Wendell Working on a Race Car

    12. He moved up to 11th in 1965, was a career-high 6th in 1966, 10th in 1967, and finished 9th in both 1968 and '69. His top year in winnings was 1969 when he won $47,451.

    13. Wendell Scott was lucky to have survived a wreck at the Talladega Speedway in 1973.  A 24 car pileup during lap 12 of the race had taken out most of the front runners and Wendell Scott running towards the back.  The wreck marked the end his racing career and almost cost him his life.  Wendell was behind the wheel of the newest racecar he had ever owned, a 1971 Mercury Cyclone. 

    14. Wendell’s 1971 Cyclone

    15. After the Wreck

    16. Wendell Scott died on December. 23, 1990, with much of the serious recognition of the impact he had on the sport coming only after his death.  The street on which he lived in Danville, Virginia was renamed Wendell Scott Drive in 1997.   The movie "Greased Lightning," filmed in 1977 and starring Richard Pryor as Wendell Scott, was a "Hollywood" biography about Wendell.

    17. Wendell Scott and his Torino Race Car

    18. Wendell Scott review Was the first African-American to win a NASCAR race Was from Danville, Virginia Finished 6th in points in 1966 A bad wreck at the Talladega Superspeedway ended his racing career The movie “Greased Lightning” was based on his life

More Related