Family of 1st black driver to win NASCAR race asks for proper trophy

The family of Wendell Scott, the first black driver to win a NASCAR race, is asking the circuit to posthumously award him the trophy he never received.

Scott made history when he won a Grand National Series - known today as the Cup Series - race at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Florida, on Dec. 1, 1963.

However, his victory was not publicly announced, and second-place finisher Buck Baker was instead declared the winner. Scott was officially awarded his win several hours later when NASCAR cited a scoring error for the original decision. While he received his prize money, Scott was never given his trophy.

"It was given (to) the person they announced as the winner in front of my grandfather, but hours later when all the fans and associated press left, that's when the money was given to him," Warrick Scott, Wendell's grandson, told Kendall Davis of WDBJ.

The Jacksonville Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame presented the Scott family with a replica trophy in 2010. However, this was never acknowledged by NASCAR and remains an unofficial memento of his achievement.

Warrick, who's the CEO of the Wendell Scott Foundation, said in a video this week that his family sent a letter to NASCAR in 2018 to ask for a proper trophy ceremony but never received a response.

Wendell retired from NASCAR in 1973 with one win and 147 top-10 finishes over 13 years. He died in 1990 and was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.

Warrick told Michael Perchick of WTVD Raleigh-Durham that his grandfather struggled to find sponsors while in NASCAR due to racism. He also said Wendell was subject to frequent death threats and was once poisoned.

NASCAR has made a number of changes recently to combat racism in the sport. The most notable was the banning of the Confederate flag from all future races, events, and properties.

Bubba Wallace, NASCAR's lone active black driver, wore a T-shirt reading "I can't breathe" and drove a Black Lives Matter-themed car during Wednesday's race.