Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2015 - 39

News story of Scott's first and only NASCAR win.

Sybil Scott, as a child, cheers on her Dad at the track.

tough and a fan favorite. He was
inducted into the NASCAR Hall of
Fame in 2013.
While Baker was accepting the
trophy in the winner's circle, Scott
and his team were protesting the
call. Hours after the race ended,
when the stands had emptied,
track officials awarded prize money to Scott, but there was no trophy and certainly no kiss from a
white trophy girl.
They blamed a scoring error-
but many suspected something else.
Ned Jarrett, veteran driver,
broadcaster and Hall of Famer:
"Scoring back in those days was
primitive but it was the best we had

and there were some honest mistakes. There was not that much controversy about the win at the time
and Buck Baker kept the trophy.
Unfortunately, back then Wendell's
race was not looked upon in the
right way and he didn't impose his
race on anyone. But he wouldn't
back down. He stood his ground
and made it work."

47 YEARS LATER
The Jacksonville race would stand
as Scott's only NASCAR career win.
Earlier he had won more than 100
local races. Then in 13 years and
495 starts in NASCAR premier series
competition, he earned 20 top-five

'Greased Lightning': Richard Pryor
as Wendell Scott
In 1977 the innovative and often irreverent Richard Pryor, then
one of America's top comedians, made his debut starring role as
Wendell Scott in the bio/pic "Greased Lightning." The movie also
cast Beau Bridges, Cleavon Little and Pam Grier in major roles
and offers a glimpse into NASCAR in its more rough and tumble
early days.

and 147 top-10 finishes-but no
other wins. In 2010, 47 years after
the Jacksonville win, race officials
finally presented a replica trophy to
Scott's family.
And five years after that, in 2015,
Scott was the first African-American
inducted into the NASCAR Hall of
Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina.
He was one of five drivers in the
class of 2015, but Scott missed the
ceremony. He passed away December 23, 1990.
There are fans who believe the
honor had been too long coming-
and there are others who believed
it would never happen. But they all
know that his induction recognizes
a truly unique character in NASCAR
history.
That two-foot-tall silver Jacksonville trophy gleams in the family
home on Wendell Scott Drive in
Danville. Plaques, photos, awards
and other mementoes of his career
fill the house. Most of the Scott
children-seven of them-grew up
in this snug cottage with the stonework porch pillars.
His youngest daughter, Sybil
Scott, a supervisor for Juvenile Detention Department of the Danville
Police Department, bites back any
bitterness.

Scott and his family were on location and Scott actually did
much of the stunt driving-a plus since Pryor reportedly had to
learn to drive a stick shift for the role.
"'Greased Lightning' was done at a time when it had to appeal
to a cross section of people because they wanted to bring whites
and blacks into the theater and Richard was picked because of
his popularity at the time. Richard was a very humble, private
person but he had the wit," Franklin Scott says. "A lot of the movie
was true but, of course, there were some embellishments." -PS
September/October 39

Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - September/October 2015