DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — With his Canon 60D in hand, Darrell Wallace Jr. is a fixture at the track, eagerly snapping photos with an insider’s view of auto racing. His Instagram account is littered with day-in-the-life snapshots of cars and crews, all carrying the tag, “My crazy life captured in pictures.”
Wallace, though, isn’t a typical 19-year-old NASCAR prospect trying to climb the ladder, and he’s less interested in a budding photography career. He is a pioneer of sorts as only the fourth black driver with a full-time ride in a NASCAR series.
When Wallace takes the wheel for the Truck Series race Friday at Daytona International Speedway, he’ll become a slice of NASCAR history in a race that ignites his goal of serving as a role model for a generation of potential future black drivers.
“It’s kind of up to me,” Wallace said. “It’s kind of a huge weight.”
Busting down racial barriers in a sport long reserved for whites is pretty heavy stuff for a teenager and all eyes are on him. Yet Wallace, the son of a white father and black mother, openly talks of becoming the Tiger Woods of NASCAR — the great black star who can transcend the sport and prove people of all colors can race.
“You don’t have a role model. That’s why you don’t see anybody in it,” Wallace said. “They can’t look up and be like, ‘I want to be like him because he’s the same color as me.’ There’s no one there to do that. I’m the top one right now and I’m only 19.”
Wallace joins Wendell Scott, Willy T. Ribbs and Bill Lester as the only full-time black drivers in the 65-year history of NASCAR. Scott is the only black driver to win a race, way back in 1964.
Wallace is signed with Joe Gibbs Racing and will drive the No. 54 Toyota for Kyle Busch Motorsports on Friday. Gibbs knows as well as anyone what it’s like to work with black athletes under the microscope. He coached the Washington Redskins when Doug Williams became the first black quarterback to win a Super Bowl in 1988. Gibbs said Wallace has the talent and the mental toughness to break through in NASCAR.
“I think he’s the right kid,” Gibbs said.
Wallace, raised in Concord, N.C., has the full support of the black drivers before him. Lester has sent him encouraging tweets. Wallace met some of Scott’s children at a race in Virginia.
“They’re just happy to see someone following in their dad’s footsteps,” he said. “I’m hoping that I can carry that torch a little farther.”
He’s in a better position to succeed than many other minorities over the years. He has sponsorship, a top-flight team in JGR and is a graduate of NASCAR’s diversity program. Even in NASCAR, the climate has changed where drivers of all sexes and colors are openly accepted, in the garage, and hopefully in the stands.
Wallace, who goes by Bubba, spent the last three seasons driving in a low-level NASCAR developmental series and said racism in all forms was nonexistent.
At lower levels of racing, though, Wallace would hear racial insults or encounter ignorant views.
“We used to take it from fans,” his father, Darrell, said. “We’ve had it from other drivers. We’ve had it from officials. We’ve had it from promoters. We’ve had it from track owners. We’ve pretty much had it from everybody.”
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