Given Bubba Wallace And Noose Incident At Talladega, NASCAR Needs More Action Than Talk Regading Racial Matters

Exactly 12 days go, when those among the naive prepared to give NASCAR officials lifetime memberships into the NAACP, I wrote a Forbes.com column entitled, “Fans Should Wait To See Real Change Before Praising NASCAR For Saying It Will Prohibit Confederate Flag.”

Yeah, well.

Somebody found a noose Sunday in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace, the only Black driver in NASCAR’s Cup Series.

Soon afterward, NASCAR officials said they “launched an immediate investigation” into the incident that happened at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega County, Alabama.

Now the FBI is involved.

Wallace responded by saying, “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.”

Good.

The same goes for the general outrage everywhere, ranging from those inside and outside of the NASCAR circuit.

Which means . . .

Who knows?

Here’s what we do know: This noose thing was an inside job.

Even before COVID-19 restrictions, which provide a bunch of check points throughout sports these days, it was slightly easier to break into the vault at your local bank than to wander into somebody’s garage on race day.

If NASCAR officials really are combining with local officials to find those involved with NooseGate, fine. They’ll make an announcement about solving this whole mess sooner rather than later.

This shouldn’t be that difficult.

Here’s what we also know: This isn’t the way for NASCAR to become nationally relevant after more than a decade of plunging attendance and stagnant television ratings from its mostly southern base.

According to Forbes.com in February, the average worth of NASCAR’S top eight teams is $158 million. Courtesy of Lowes, Target
TGT
TGT
, Speedway and others taking their dollars elsewhere after seasons of advertising on stock cars, that’s an 11% drop in value since its peak of nearly a dozen years ago.

This dying sport isn’t exactly breathing easier with the pandemic.

NASCAR needs fans. Tons of them, but due to COVID-19 concerns, it only recently has allowed spectators at races, and that involved 1,000 invited military guests and their families two weeks ago at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Then there were the 5,000 folks expected Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway, but thunderstorms postponed the race until Monday, which gives NASCAR officials more time to solve NooseGate since the perpetrators likely haven’t left.

I know more than a little about Talladega. I covered a race there during the early 1990s and another one in 2006. Both times, it felt like I entered the 19th century after pulling into the front gates.

In addition to the slew of Confederate flags I saw waving during each of those trips, there were racially insensitive signs throughout the infield.

Now, slightly more than a decade later at Talladega, you have the Wallace-noose incident, along with that plane flying over the racetrack Sunday carrying a banner of the Confederate flag and the words “Defund NASCAR.”

So this is just Talladega, you say?

Let’s see.

The next Cup Series race is this weekend at Pocono, where NASCAR officials already have announced no fans will attend due to COVID-19 guidelines issued by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf.

That said, future NASCAR events are slated to have more and more fans. You know, as in additional chances for those still fighting the Civil War to defy the edict by NASCAR officials to keep their Confederate flags at home.

What happens if fans don’t?

I asked that at the end of my Forbes.com column 12 says ago, and I’m still waiting for NASCAR officials to answer.

Just like I’m still waiting for the only news worth mentioning over the next few days regarding NooseGate.

We’ve got the quilty, and after a public tongue lashing, we’re banishing them from NASCAR for life.