Posted on 02/16/2022 5:08:27 PM PST by algore
Just days before it was found, Wallace - NASCAR's only full-time black driver - had successfully lobbied for the auto racing company to permanently ban the Confederate Flag from being displayed at any of its events.
The request was made at the height of racial injustice protests across the country following the police killing of George Floyd in Minnesota.
Wallace received an onslaught of backlash over the motion, with some fans of the sport claiming the flag was a crucial part of their southern heritage and therefore an integral part of NASCAR, a sport with deep Southern roots.
On June 21, 2020, a large group of protesters had gathered outside of the Talladega Speedway to protest the ban ahead of the race day.
The noose was discovered inside a garage assigned to Wallace's team just hours later after proceedings were postponed for 24 hours due to heavy rainfall.
NASCAR President Steve Phelps recounts the moment he was informed by a member of Wallace's team about the discovery.
"My heart just sank," Phelps said. "[I thought] 'What are we going to do?' But more importantly, we have to have a discussion with Bubba.
"And, ultimately, I thought that was my responsibility," he added.
Then unaware of the unfolding situation, Wallace said he was left feeling "nervous" when he received a call from Phelps, asking if he could stop by to see him.
"I opened up the door for [Phelps]," Wallace remembered, "and he's got tears in his eyes and he's struggling to talk.
"And he goes, 'there was a noose found in your garage.'"
A dumbfounded Wallace said he responded, "A what?", to which Phelps assured him NASCAR would "find the motherf**ker who did this and ban them from our garage and never let them back in this sport."
FBI Agent Stanley Ruffin, who worked on the Wallace case, dispelled any notions to Netflix that the noose incident was staged by the star, or anyone else.
"It wasn't a hoax - it was real," Ruffin said of the noose-fashioned rope, "and Mr. Wallace had nothing to do with the placement of that noose - and I'll stand by that."
However, within two days, agents with the FBI in Birmingham, Alabama had been able to determine that Wallace wasn't the victim of a hate crime as NASCAR had prematurely suggested.
Instead, the bureau found that the alleged noose was actually a door pull rope fashioned like a noose that had been there since at least October 2019.
Both Wallace and Phelps voiced relief over the FBI's findings, but maintained the rope was fashioned into a noose - and that symbolism alone is problematic.
Shame on Netflix.
Bite me bubba! and your racist horse you rode in on.
still waiting for hi to apologize.
Musta been those FBI dixiecrats, danged racists all of em. Worse than the Jussie case.
Nonsense. He ain’t no Hamilton.
Except there was no noose.
The left never let’s go of a lie.
How sad is NASCAR news that they are still playing this overblown, manufactured story? Everyone knows it wasn’t a noose, and yet they are still trying to churn up racial animosity.
From the article:
Both Wallace and Phelps voiced relief over the FBI’s findings, but maintained the rope was fashioned into a noose - and that symbolism alone is problematic.
Bubba is as good as Danica.
Neither deserves a damn thing.
Negro fatigue article 325,822.
Are they gonna hide his white father and the fact that the kid had a decent upbringing?
Wonder if they’ll make a big deal about the race he won, but didn’t really win, under a rain delay where NASCAR threw out all the rules to give him a win.
He should start his own race car league.
A GUN, not just a gun.
Is this shit really still floatin’ around?
Bubba Buck$.
That is nonsense. And I am black and old. Never seen anyone hung in my life and I have never worried about nooses, let alone fake ones.
This attention whore fool is another Smollett, only slightly better.
Good thing the threat was imaginary.
The way he was treated, the hiding of the fact that his dad is white and the fact that he accepted that bogus win, says everything the world knees to know about his character.
Nothing but an opportunist.
He’s no different than Cameron Champ. And just read that his dad is mixed, so Champ is only 25% black. But they make him out to be the second coming of Lee Elder and Calvin Peete.
At least he isn’t a fag.
Actually he’s pretty smart.
He’s milked this deal for good sponsorships from companies who want their wokeness cred. Toyota, McDonalds, etc
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