A noose was discovered in the garage stall of Black race car driver Bubba Wallace at a NASCAR race in Alabama on Sunday, less than two weeks after Wallace advocated successfully for NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag at all tracks and facilities.
NASCAR is investigating, and said they will to do everything possible to find out who was responsible and “eliminate them from the sport.”
“We are angry and outraged, and cannot state strongly enough how seriously we take this heinous act,” a NASCAR statement reads.
“As we have stated unequivocally, there is no place for racism in NASCAR, and this act only strengthens our resolve to make the sport open and welcoming to all.”
Here was Wallace's tweeted comment.
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) June 22, 2020
Wallace is the only fulltime Black driver in NASCAR’s elite Cup Series. On Twitter, he said the “the despicable act of racism and hatred leaves me incredibly saddened and serves as a painful reminder of how much further we have to go as a society and ow persistent we must be in the fight against racism.”
“As my mother told me today, ‘They are just trying to scare you,’” he wrote. “ This will not break me, I will not give in nor will I back down. I will continue to proudly stand for what I believe in.”
IMAGES: courtesy BUBBA WALLACE (bubbaspeedshop.com)
