Darrell Wallace Jr. is Changing the Face of NASCAR

By Terri Washington @Terri7589 on September 29, 2014

The sport of NASCAR is predominately and stereotypically all white. Most of the team owners are white, the fans are white and the drivers are white. There is an exception to every rule and in this case, Darrell Wallace Jr. is that exception.

Wallace is a driver in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. He is 20 years old and is currently sitting fourth in championship standings. Wallace is also half African-American. In 2013, after his first win, he became the first African-American driver to win a NASCAR race since 1963. He has won two races so far in 2014 and could quite possibly change NASCAR forever.

Never, in the history of NASCAR, has an African–American driver won a championship. With Wallace sitting at fourth and only 33 points behind the leader, that could all change in 2014. There are five more races left in the season and if Wallace can continue finishing in the top 10, like he has in four of the last six races, he will be a serious contender for the championship.

NASCAR has made a few efforts to expand and grow a more diverse audience by including diverse drivers. The NASCAR Drive for Diversity program was created to attract people of different races and genders to NASCAR. The program focuses mainly on getting these individuals to be drivers, but can also help lead them to ownership and pit crew roles. Wallace started out in the Drive for Diversity program and if he wins a championship, the program will gather praise, attention and be promoted more aggressively.

Regardless of whether Wallace wins a championship, he has already changed NASCAR for good and for better. He has already had more wins than groundbreaking African-American driver Wendell Scott, and if he finishes in the top five of the championship standings, he will have placed higher than any other African-American driver in the history of the sport.

Whether or not people believe this, NASCAR needs Wallace. NASCAR needs as much diversity as it can get and diversity will help change the opinions of people who are not fans of the sport. If NASCAR wants to continue to thrive, it needs to become an all-inclusive sport; a sport in which anyone can come in and succeed. NASCAR has yet to have that, but Wallace could be the first of many.

Terri Washington is a Los Angeles Clippers writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow her on Twitter @Terri7589, “Like” her on Facebook or add her to your network on Google.