In recent years, NASCAR has made a point to increase its diversity and outreach to the Black community. And while those efforts certainly have their critics, NASCAR star driver Bubba Wallace made it clear that he has no time to worry about what they think.
Last Thursday, the NASCAR star hosted Bubba’s Block Party at the DuSable Black History Museum in Chicago, with the goal of helping expand the sport to the Black community. Wallace spoke to some reporters during the event where he had a pretty brutal message to anyone standing against NASCAR for its diversity efforts.
“I’ve always said there’s three types of people: the ones that will accept change, the ones that are on the fence about change and the ones that will never change,” Wallace told reporters Thursday. “You can never get to the minds of the people that will never change, so we don’t really focus our energy on those people. We try to convince the ones that are on the fence about change. ‘This is what can happen. Stick with us, and let’s ride it out to the end.’
“And the ones that are OK with living life on the edge and accepting change right away, let’s do it.
“Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t like changes that we’re doing as a sport to tap into different demographics and make the sport more welcoming and inclusive, and that’s on them. They have to live with that. For us, we continue to march forward.”
Wallace’s comments were pretty blunt, and they generated plenty of reactions on social media.
Very cool way to introduce the sport to a new market. Go Nascar https://t.co/aL6AuSFtJv
— Kendall Snyder (@KendallSnyder) June 30, 2023
Surely these comments will be calm and well-written.
— Zac and 2 others (@ZAught1) July 2, 2023
Oh some of the comments under this tweet are fantastic 🙄 https://t.co/nqNoACnq8Y
— Jared Feinberg (@JRodNFLDraft) June 30, 2023
I’n curious if Nascar nets any new fans from this test. So far I don’t see any significant boost in the west from the races at the colosseum.
— Christopher Welch✝️ (@WelchC8289) June 30, 2023
I got some free tickets from him guys! I’ll be there Saturday and Sunday!
— Maurice 🤘🏾 (@morris1394_) June 30, 2023
you better believe NASCAR is making money off this race, they can afford to give away a few tickets every now and then especially at a new track in a new city… the racists will have problems with this like they do anything that has to do with DEI.
— 🇵🇸 🔻 CeasefireNOW 🔻🇵🇸 (@MrPissant) June 30, 2023
It’s clear that NASCAR is going to continue to promote diversity, and Wallace is going to continue to stand against the critics.
