Bubba Wallace Says Racism Is What Pushed Him to Become the First Ranked Black Driver in NASCAR: ‘It Only Motivates Me to Do Better’
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace has been a pillar in the Black Lives Matter movement. From putting the movement on his race car, to single-handedly convincing NASCAR to ban the confederate flag at their competitions, Wallace is committed to the cause at hand.
And although you may not have known Wallace’s name until recently, racism is something he has dealt for years while becoming the first ranked black driver in NASCAR. According to the Alabama native, racism was something he couldn’t understand when he was younger, he told People in a new interview.
“Whenever I was younger, I never would understand it, but my parents would always just be like, ‘You know what, don’t mind that BS that’s going on over there. Let’s come back next week and beat their tails.'”
And it was the motivation he got from the hate he received that gave him the drive to get better and better each and every race.
“And that’s what we did,” Wallace told People. “We’d come back and eventually shut them up. So, it’s been like that ever since.”
Now, at 26 years old, Wallace does understand the racism that is geared towards him every day, but now he’s able to just laugh it off. “And now that I do understand it, I look at it and laugh and just think of where we’re at this world.”
“Obviously it still goes on every day, but for people to use that as something to offend me, or affect me, or knock me off my block, that ain’t going to happen,” Bubba continued. “It only motivates me to do better.”
And now, Wallace’s goal is to do what’s right, even if his dad was more of an “eye for an eye” type of person. “Yeah, for us, my dad was an eye for an eye guy. He was all about being fair. … But for me, it was always just doing the right thing.”
Wallace will be back on the race track on July 12 to compete in the Quaker State 400.
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