12/21/24
March 17, 2006
Kahne captures pole, but Lester steals show: Bill Lester becomes the first African-American to qualify for a race since 1986. Congratulations Bill.
posted by dbt302 to auto racing at 10:27 PM - 14 comments
Holy shit isn't that the 6th or 7th sign of the apocalypse?....I kidd, I kidd....congrats long time comming!!!
posted by Grrrlacher at 12:04 AM on March 18, 2006
This has been discussed a little bit here before, but this is great news. May it happen again and again, and a hell of a lot sooner than since the last time.
posted by chicobangs at 01:53 AM on March 18, 2006
Thanks, chico. That thread was a little bit before my time with SpoFi.
posted by wingnut4life at 07:17 AM on March 18, 2006
No, this is excellent. I think any updates to this merit more coverage, and certainly Bill Lester has done something here of historical import. I look forward to the day when this won't be news anymore, but until then, I'm pulling for him.
posted by chicobangs at 07:48 AM on March 18, 2006
Kudos to Bill Lester!! I just hope he completes more than fifty laps, but im sure one of those fine drivers from the "Coca Cola" family of drivers, or those of the "Gillette young guns" will take him out for stealing their spotlight, only to blame him for his rookie inexperience. Once again congrats to Billl and his raceteam hope to see him at the finish.
posted by tomthumb at 09:29 AM on March 18, 2006
go 19
posted by zepp70 at 10:59 AM on March 18, 2006
Holy crap! When I saw that I thought "But he's made it into loads of CTS races." Didn't realise he'd made it into the NC race! Way to go Bill! He's good driver in the truck series.
posted by Drood at 01:27 PM on March 18, 2006
You know what I like about Bill Lester? He's older than I am, which gives me hope that in the next few years even I could get a shot at a Cup ride.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 01:31 PM on March 18, 2006
To pick up on a Bill Lester quote, "This ain't about racin'," I certainly hope he is right and enough of those young people with the darker skin will come on out to the tracks and help America grow to where we don't find a need to grade and label by skin pigment.
posted by Bud Lang at 01:50 PM on March 18, 2006
I hope Bill Lester makes it. Luck to him. But I'm just wary of the whole NASCAR background and image.
posted by roberts at 04:21 PM on March 18, 2006
I' late to the thread, but I never could understand why white fans will cheer for black football/basketball/baseball players, but just couldn't conceive of a black NASCAR driver. I remember Willie T. Ribbs ran a few races in the 80's but not sure what happened to him. About time, congrats and good luck to Bill Lester
posted by steelergirl at 10:22 PM on March 18, 2006
I must say this is a very inspirational story and give my congrats to Mr. Lester. Tommorrow instead of keeping track of only where 3 cars (the 9, 99 and 48) the 19 has been added to that list. As much as I'd like to see the 9 cross the line first for his second time I'd like to see that 19 cross a lot more this is a great day in NASCAR and I'm happy to be a live for it. GO 19!
posted by buffalo will never win at 11:44 PM on March 18, 2006
As a follow-up, here's a little post-race chat with Lester, who finished 38th on the day.
posted by wfrazerjr at 01:45 PM on March 21, 2006
Kudos and it's about time. I found this old article titled "Black NASCAR." It gets a little more in-depth about what Wendell Scott and other African Americans had endure over time.