From Bowie to Lester -- a history of black Cup drivers

Fritz Pollard and Bobby Marshall were on the field when the NFL debuted in 1920. In 1947, Jackie Robinson made his major league baseball debut and three years later, Chuck Cooper was drafted by the Boston Celtics in the NBA. Five years after that, on July 31, 1955, Elias Bowie took the green flag in the Grand National race at Bay Meadows Speedway.

Sports have shown to be ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to civil rights. Sport doesn't care about the color of skin; it's all about talent.

Each February, the country celebrates Black History Month as a way to recognize and pay tribute to the growth regarding race relations.

Blacks have gone from being "property" to the leader of the most powerful nation in the world. But it didn't come overnight. In fact, just 40 years ago Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated for his views on equal rights.

Yet NASCAR, along with other major sports, knocked down the racism barrier long before the rest of society was ready to. As we celebrate Black History Month, here is a look at notable black drivers in the Cup Series.

Elias Bowie made his only start in July 1955 at Bay Meadows Speedway in San Mateo, Calif., in a 250-lap Grand National race that featured notable drivers such as winner Tim Flock, Marvin Panch and Lee Petty.

At the time, Bowie owned several transportation companies in the Bay Area.

The track was a 1-mile dirt track and this was the second of three Grand National races it would host. Bowie started 31st in the No. 60 Cadillac.

The race went 252 laps with Bowie completing 172 and was still running when the checkered flag dropped. He crossed the line with a 28th-place finish, earning Bowie $90.

Bowie died Jan. 26, 2005.

Charlie Scott started his only race on Feb. 26, 1956, at the Daytona Beach and Road Course in a 39-lap Grand National race. The 4.1-mile track played host to 10 Grand National races from 1949-58 and was site of the first NASCAR-sanctioned race in 1948.

Scott drove the No. 300 Chrysler for owner Carl Kiekhaefer, who fielded six cars in the race, including winner Tim Flock. Scott started the race 14th and was among 20 of the 76 cars still running at the finish. He crossed the line 19th and won $75.

Scott resides in Georgia.

Wendell Scott started 495 Cup races in his 13-year career and is the first black driver to win a race, although there was controversy surrounding it.

Scott's racing career began in 1947 and he raced in Virginia with quite a bit of success. In 1959, Scott won 22 races en route to winning the Richmond track championship and the state Sportsman title.

Wendell Scott

Cup statistics

Year	W	T5	T10	Av. St.	Av. Fn
1961	0	0	5	17.1	15.5
1962	0	4	19	16.2	12.3
1963	0	1	15	18.4	13.9
1964	1	8	25	17.4	12.9
1965	0	4	21	17.5	13.5
1966	0	3	17	22.0	14.2
1967	0	0	11	22.5	16.0
1968	0	0	10	22.2	15.7
1969	0	0	11	22.5	16.0
1970	0	0	9	22.0	17.6
1971	0	0	4	25.2	18.4
1972	0	0	0	29.7	21.0
1973	0	0	0	45.0	27.0
Total	1	20	147	20.4	15.1

Scott's Cup debut came in 1961 when he bought a Chevrolet from Buck Baker and finished 17th at the Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds in Spartanburg, S.C., although he was credited with a DNF after oil pressure issues knocked him out 52 laps into the 200-lap event.

Scott made 23 starts in 1961 and finished 32nd in points. He racked up four top-10 finishes with a best finish of seventh at Bowman-Gray Stadium in Winston Salem, N.C.

Scott would continue to improve in the next six seasons, finishing 22nd in points in 1962, 15th in 1963, 12th in 1964, 11th in 1965 and sixth in 1966 -- the highest point ranking of his career.

Scott's win came on Dec. 1, 1963, at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, Fla. He was driving a self-owned Chevrolet -- No. 34 -- and started the 200-lap race 15th. Scott crossed the finish line before second-place Buck Baker, but it was Baker who was crowned the winner, leaving Scott out of Victory Lane.

NASCAR said there was a scoring error and days later announced Scott as the winner, but the fact he didn't get to celebrate his victory the way every other winner had was something that always bothered him. He would say later that NASCAR officials and promoters didn't want him "kissing any [white] beauty queens or accepting any awards."

Scott would race competitively until 1973 when he sustained three cracked ribs, a lacerated arm and a cracked pelvis in a massive 21-car pileup at Talladega which essentially knocked him out of the sport.

In his 495 races, Scott compiled one win, 20 top-five finishes and 147 top-10s. His career average finish was 15.1 and he finished in the top 10 in points in four consecutive seasons (1966-69).

Scott died on Dec. 22, 1990, after a long battle with spinal cancer.

George Wiltshire made two Cup starts, one in 1971 and the other in 1975.

The 1971 Islip 250 took place at the .2-mile Islip (N.Y.) Speedway and is currently the only Cup race to feature two black drivers -- Wiltshire and Wendell Scott.

Wiltshire, in the self-owned No. 89 '70 Plymouth, started 29th in the 33-car field. After only two laps Wiltshire pulled off the track and quit, finishing 28th.

Four years later, in 1975, Wiltshire made his final Cup start, this one at Pocono. Wiltshire started 34th and 15 laps in was black-flagged and parked, leading to a 32nd-place finish.

Randy Bethea made one Cup start in his career, the World 600 at Charlotte on May 25, 1975.

Bethea drove the No. 40 Chevrolet for D.K. Ulrich and started the race 39th. Bethea was unable to complete the race after his engine expired 251 laps into the 400-lap event and he finished 33rd.

Bethea was a popular driver in the Sportsman Division in Tennessee during the '70s and finished 16th in points in 1972.

Willy T. Ribbs made three Cup Series starts in 1986, but quite possibly could have a much different career if not for questionable decision making.

In 1978, Humpy Wheeler, president of the Charlotte track, entered Ribbs in the World 600 for owner Will Cronkite. Ribbs was to drive the No. 96 Ford with Harry Hyde as crew chief.

Willy T. Ribbs

Cup statistics

Year	W	T5	T10	Av. St.	Av. Fn.
1986	0	0	0	32.0	30.0

Truck statistics

Year	W	T5	T10	Av. St.	Av. Fn.
2001	0	0	0	22.7	21.4

After skipping two practice sessions, Ribbs found himself on the wrong side of the law after being arrested for evading police in the speedway's pace car. Ribbs was arrested and the car was given to a then-unknown driver -- Dale Earnhardt.

But Ribbs would get his opportunity in the Cup Series thanks to DiGard, which owned Cup cars from 1973-87 and featured drivers such as Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison.

Ribbs made his debut in April 1986 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. He started 29th and finished 22nd.

Two months later at Riverside, Ribbs took his turn in a road-course race and suffered his first DNF. Ribbs started 30th but after 64 laps of the 95-lap race, Ribbs' engine expired for a 29th-place finish.

His final Cup race at Michigan would end much the same way as the Riverside two weeks earlier. Ribbs started 37th and lost his engine 65 laps in, dropping him to a 39th-place finish.

It would be 15 years before NASCAR saw Ribbs again. In 2001, Ribbs ran a full season in the Truck Series for Bobby Hamilton Racing and finished 16th in points. Ribbs had an average finish of 21.4 and had 14 top-20 finishes in 23 starts.

Bill Lester is the most recent black driver in the Cup Series, making two starts at the age of 45 for Bill Davis Racing, but Lester was also a competitor in the Truck Series for eight years.

Bill Lester

Cup statistics

Year	W	T5	T10	Av. St.	Av. Fn.
2006	0	0	0	26.5	35.0

Nationwide statistics

Year	W	T5	T10	Av. St.	Av. Fn.
1999	0	0	0	24.0	21.0

Truck statistics

Year	W	T5	T10	Av. St.	Av. Fn
2000	0	0	0	31.0	24.0
2001	0	0	0	22.0	27.2
2002	0	0	0	13.2	19.2
2003	0	0	1	13.4	18.3
2004	0	0	1	15.9	22.5
2005	0	2	4	10.4	19.3
2006	0	0	0	18.7	23.1
2007	0	0	1	15.3	20.1
Total	0	2	7	14.8	20.7

Lester's two Cup starts came in a part-time role, driving the No. 23 Dodge at Atlanta and Michigan.

Lester started 19th and finished 28th, six laps down, at Atlanta. At Michigan, he finished on the lead lap in 32nd place.

Lester is best known for his strong Truck career. His series debut came in 2000 at Portland in a Tom Mazzuchi-owned Chevrolet. Lester started the road race 31st and brought home a 24th-place finish.

In 2001, Lester raced part time for Bobby Hamilton Racing and in five races had an average finish of 27.2 with three DNFs. Despite the disappointing results, that led to a full-time run in 2002 with BHR and Lester finished 17th in points.

In 2003, Lester won his first NASCAR pole when he posted the fastest qualifying lap at Charlotte; he would finish the race 15th.

Lester also had his first top-10 finish in the Truck Series in '03 with a 10th-place finish at Kansas. Lester finished the season 14th in points, his best points finish.

Lester moved to Bill Davis Racing in 2004 and earned his second top-10 finish, a 10th-place run at Gateway. He had 10 lead-lap finishes that season and finished the year 22nd in points.

Lester's best Truck season came in 2005, when he had two top-five finishes and four top-10s en route to a 17th-place finish in the points. At Kansas that season, Lester started from the pole and finished a career-best fifth. He matched that finish in the season finale at Homestead.

In 2006, the No. 22 Toyota team took a step back. Lester failed to post a top-10 finish, had four DNFs and the team ended the season 20th in points. After the disappointing season, Lester left Bill Davis Racing and signed on with Billy Ballew Motorsports.

Lester raced the first 15 races in the '07 season for Ballew, claiming a season-high eighth-place finish at Kentucky, had an average finish of 20.1 and the team was 16th in points. Sponsor woes forced Lester out of the truck and Ballew used different drivers to finish the season.