Wendell Scott Kept Racing Through Racism, and His Family Finally Got His Trophy

Wendell Oliver Scott was born on August 29, 1921, in Danville, Virginia. By 18 he owned his own taxi, and he worked as a mechanic and later ran an auto repair shop. Drafted in 1943, he spent two years as a mechanic with the Red Ball Express, the Army's supply convoy system in World War II. He married Mary Belle Coles in 1944, and they raised seven children.

Money was tight. For about a decade after the war he also hauled moonshine out of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and he was caught once, in 1949, and placed on probation.

Scott's racing career began in 1952 almost by accident. Promoters at the Danville Fairgrounds Speedway wanted a local Black driver to draw spectators, and on May 23 he finished third and earned $50.

He kept going, but many doors were closed. Tracks in Winston-Salem and elsewhere in North Carolina turned him away when organizers saw his Black crew. He endured racial slurs from announcers and fans, had expense money withheld, and faced drivers who raced him roughly. NASCAR president Bill France sent letters warning drivers that wrecking Scott on purpose would bring suspension.

Scott never landed a major corporate sponsor, so he built his racing operation the hard way. He worked on his own cars, and his sons tuned them rather than the family paying professional mechanics. His son Frank later became known as the first African American crew chief in NASCAR. His wife, Mary, kept the books and worked nursing home shifts, and his daughter Deborah kept scores.

In 1964 alone, he started 56 of 62 races. Over his career he made 495 starts in NASCAR's top series and finished in the top ten 147 times.

On December 1, 1963, Scott started 15th in the Jacksonville 200 at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida, against a field that included Richard Petty and David Pearson. When the race ended, officials flagged Buck Baker as the winner. A scoring review hours later found that Scott had actually won, by two laps.

Scott received the winner's prize money, reported as $1,000, but not the trophy or a Victory Lane celebration. Accounts from the time and later histories say promoters did not want a Black winner posing with the white woman who traditionally presented the trophy. Even so, Scott had become the first Black driver to win a race at NASCAR's top level.

On May 6, 1973, Scott was caught in a 21-car crash at Talladega Superspeedway. He suffered a broken leg, broken ribs, and a shattered pelvis. He raced only once more, at Charlotte that October. Wendell Scott died of spinal cancer on December 23, 1990, at the age of 69.

Honors came, many of them late. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2015. On August 28, 2021, the day before what would have been his 100th birthday, NASCAR president Steve Phelps presented a trophy commemorating the 1963 victory to the Scott family, including his son Frank and grandson Warrick, at Daytona International Speedway, nearly 58 years after the race.

Frank Scott told reporters that his father always believed he would get his trophy one day. His grandson said that when he speaks to students now, the story no longer has to end without it.