How Bubba Wallace is mentoring the next generation of diverse NASCAR talent
Bubba Wallace’s off-track activity this week has a timely tie to the McDonald’s paint scheme he will drive at Phoenix this weekend.
The 23XI Racing driver recently participated in a virtual mentoring session with 18-year-old ARCA driver Rajah Caruth through Wallace’s McDonald’s sponsor. The two have developed a friendship over the years, with Wallace being a graduate of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program and Caruth being a current member of the program that’s aimed at engaging and elevating minority drivers and pit crew members in the highest ranks of the sport.
The McDonald’s mentoring session serves as the latest installment of the company’s Black & Positively Golden Mentors online series, a program launched last fall that pairs Black industry leaders in various sectors — including technology, entertainment and business — with up-and-comers in the same fields. It also serves as the latest example of Wallace’s investment in Caruth’s career.
“He’s just starting out and he’s got a tough climb from where he’s at, but showing signs of improvement already,” Wallace said. “And education and understanding what it takes to be a great race car driver is key. He has that about him. It’s only a matter of time for both of us for the on-track success to happen, and I’m excited to be a part of it.”
In addition to the virtual mentoring, text exchanges and occasional go-karting trips, Wallace and McDonald’s recently gifted Caruth a $1,000 gift card for racing gear. Caruth is competing for Rev Racing this year in NASCAR’s lower-level ARCA Menards Series East between his freshman classes at HBCU Winston-Salem State University.
He relocated to Concord from Washington, D.C., where he developed his early driving skills on an iRacing simulator, and earned his first late-model win at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in October.
Wallace, 27, is in his fourth full-time year competing at NASCAR’s Cup Series and in his first year driving for a new team co-owned by NBA icon Michael Jordan and Cup Series driver Denny Hamlin. He’s shooting for his first win in the series this year.
While Wallace and Caruth are years apart in age and career starts, they share the experience of being in a minority group in NASCAR, with Wallace being the only Black driver competing full-time in NASCAR’s top level. That’s something the sport is aiming to change through programs like Drive for Diversity. For now it remains a reality, and one that is better served by mentoring between generations. Caruth said it was hard to believe that he could also be considered an inspiration to younger talents.
“I feel like I’m still a kid,” Caruth said. “To have people look up to me in whatever capacity, it’s honestly surreal and it just really is more motivating to get it done on the racetrack and off the racetrack.”
Caruth also said that Wallace shooting into the national spotlight last year, when the driver advocated for Black Lives Matter and NASCAR’s ban on the Confederate flag, has encouraged him to be a louder voice in the sport on social issues and given him a model to follow.
“It just gave me the confidence to go through adversity and maintain a good mental state and to just do my best on the racetrack and prove them wrong,” Caruth said.
Both drivers acknowledged that they’ve never felt unwelcome in NASCAR, but Wallace said that the Confederate flag ban was a “huge step” for the sport in becoming a more inclusive community. NASCAR president Steve Phelps cited a brand tracker study last month that found that avid NASCAR fans overwhelmingly support the sport’s Confederate flag ban and stance on social justice.
The study was conducted by Directions Research and polled 1,750 self-identified avid NASCAR fans of various ages, according to data provided by NASCAR. The study found that the most recent avid fans (0-3 years as a fan) are eight times more likely to approve of NASCAR’s direction.
Beyond NASCAR’s sanctioning body and fans, sponsors, such as McDonald’s, a company that has been a multi-year sponsor of Wallace and joined 23XI as a “founding partner,” are also critical to elevating platforms and opportunities for under-represented industry members, through funding and programs like Black & Positively Golden Mentors.
“We’re very inclusive and we want everybody to be part of our sport,” Wallace said. “We still have a lot of work to do. We haven’t gotten complacent.”
“This is a never-ending process,” he continued. “So for us, it’s just figuring out what those next steps are and how we can impact the next generation to come up through and be apart of our sport, whether that’s watching (racing) from the stands, being a driver, being on a pit crew of being on a team in some capacity, it’s special.”
This story was originally published March 11, 2021 at 9:30 AM.
