No matter how hard it tries to shake the stigma, it seems that some people still look at NASCAR and its fans as Confederate Flag waving, racist rednecks from the South. This most recent incident involving Brendan Gaughan’s crew chief Bryan Berry and African American driver Marc Davis has brought all of this back to the surface. Everyone (including NASCAR) is going off hearsay at this point, and while I understand NASCAR needed to punish Berry, I don’t know if some of the things being said about Berry are fair. I wasn’t there, I don’t know what was said, so I’m not going to condemn Berry’s actions or justify them. Let me just make that clear one more time. If Berry did say what those witnesses are claiming he did, I’m not saying it’s okay, because it isn’t. But at the same time, if he is innocent, then there is no reason to condemn him for being angry about the incident with Marc Davis.
I think it’s interesting though that some people are calling Berry a racist and connecting him to NASCAR’s southern roots, yet Berry isn’t even from the South! He’s actually a native of South Florida, one of the most diverse areas of this country. That certainly doesn’t acquit him of what happened, but his alleged actions have absolutely nothing to do with the South. And along with that, some of the comments made on the radio by Gaughan have people questioning his views as well. Let’s not forget that Gaughan played basketball at Georgetown under John Thompson and was college roommates with Allen Iverson. If Gaughan is racist, don’t you think he would have had a problem playing for an African American coach and living with an African American roommate? The Berry incident aside, I believe it is ridiculously unfair to label the entire sport of NASCAR, the people in the garage, and the fans as racist. While I understand NASCAR is struggling with diversity, there is a ton of progress being made on both sides of the fence.. For example, there are more women and minorities working in the sport then ever before. Racism is an unfortunate reality in this country. It happens everywhere, everyday. And NASCAR isn’t immune to that. It helps to prove that NASCAR IS like every other sport and that the people in the NASCAR world are human and like the rest of the world. But to say in this day and age that NASCAR is somehow this leftover bastion of deep rooted Southern views is ludicrous. It seems like there are more people who work in NASCAR that aren’t from the South, then there are people who are from southern states.
It bothers me that in a time where we have an African American man running this country that somebody would feel hesitant about attending a major sporting event for fear of not being accepted. There is no reason why someone who considers themself a racing fan shouldn’t feel 100% welcome at any race track from Washington to South Carolina. It's like NASCAR's Ads say, this our NASCAR. So lets share it and enjoy it together.
