As one of the few (if not only one left) Nascar "fans" here, I was holding off until more was found out before saying anything. Because it happened at Talladega, I was prepared for the worst possible outcome. Talladega is like Redneck Mecca. Daytona may be "if you build it they will come", but 'Dega is "they will worship it with Budweiser & Boobs." It's fascinating & terrifying to be surrounded by that many pure, hardcore, dead from the neck up rednecks. The only Nascar track that doesn't encourage you to bring your kids. Where on Saturday night before the race, there's a Mardi Gras style parade in the infield on a dirt road down the middle of all the RV's called "Redneck Alley". ...and they will worship it with Budweiser and boobs. Topless BBQ sauce wrestling...yes, it's a real thing & it's a massive attraction on Redneck Alley.
If there was ever a track where something horrifying could happen...it's Talladega on every level. Death is nothing new to the track & legend has it that it's built on a Native American burial ground (because of course it is).
I knew that the security of the garages was on a whole new level under their CV19 rules. Drivers aren't even allowed in the garage anymore. A driver shows up to the track, goes to his RV, and doesn't stick his head out again until it's time to get into his car. He goes from his RV to the car for the race. If there's a rain delay, he goes back to his RV until called back to the car. If the race ends, they do minor publicity if they finished top 5, if not, they leave immediately. Bubba didn't find the noose, he didn't see the noose, he was told about the noose after it was reported to Nascar by one of his crew members who found it because Bubba was never anywhere near the garage.
Also know that they have been staggering crews in the garages to avoid having 2 teams right next to each other working on the cars at the same time. So it's a crew in every other garage for a few hours & then switch for the other crews to come in. Garages typically open from 7 am - 5/6 pm on non race days IF there is no lower series racing happening on that day. Whole different set of rules if the Xfinity series is also running at the same track. (would take forever to explain). So it would be possible to another crew to have put the noose in Bubba's garage stall. But then also know that there are stationary cameras all over the garages. You can call up each drivers garage stall online at some tracks. Nascar is unusual in how much open fan access there really is when the world is normal. You can watch/listen to everything for every driver. So clearly anyone who did it would have to be seen on camera. It would just be a matter of time until we heard who it was.
I did expect it to be a local track worker. Someone from Alabama who is upset with/doesn't agree with the new no Confederate flag rule. Someone who has worked the races at the track for years & could have worked for the cleaning crews who were allowed into the garage areas during certain times. Someone more likely to be able to bullshit their way thru with another local track worker playing security that day.
And now we know that, well, no one did it. that it's a garage door rope pull that has been tied up that way since the last race there in October. With there being no testing, no practice, nothing at the track since last year, I do see how it could have been completely over looked. We know it was a Wood Brother's crew member who tied it up that way with no ill intent. There's no way anyone would know that Bubba would be assigned that garage stall all these months later. We've seen the picture to show that the noose (and it is a noose) was there last year.
We know the chain of events. A member of Bubba's crew saw it, informed Nascar, who informed the police, who called in the FBI. Had it been a real issue, the chain was all handled correctly. With it being a non-event, it appears as if it was blown up out of proportion.
As much as everyone wants a body to burn on the altar of "we're all offended", there isn't one here. There's no actual bad guy, no one to blame, no one who set out to hurt anyone else. Just a bad choice for boy scout knot tying on a broken garage door rope. But for Nascar, it's about as good of an outcome as they could have hoped for. They don't have to confront/deal with hidden racism (it's still there, have no doubt, just look up Mike Skinner's son on twitter last night), they don't have to cater to any group & piss off another group in the process, & they have the visuals from the unity in what all the drivers did before the race. And Nascar doesn't get the credit for that visual, the drivers do. Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick & Kyle Busch (still hate him) get the credit for it. Jimmie started the conversation with the idea of everyone standing and/or kneeling with Bubba thru the anthem. Kevin Harvick came up with the idea to push the car out with every driver walking behind it. Kyle Busch (still hate him) stepped up and said since everyone already hates him (see he knows we all still hate him) that he'll stand up front & be the most visible in his lime green gumby suit as the car is being pushed. All while Bubba sat in the car & cried.
There is racism DEEPLY embedded in Nascar still. That hasn't changed, but someone turned on the lights, the roaches just haven't figured out that they should have run & hid. The old farts are dying off & the old fart fan base isn't what Nascar is going for anymore. To survive they need younger fans & there's no enough young rednecks to keep it alive either. Plus even Tide doesn't want to sell laundry soap to racists anymore either. Sponsors are driving it more than Nascar is. Younger drivers, more socially aware sponsors, Nascar is sponsor driven $$$$$$$$$$$.
I'm actually surprised that Nascar took so many steps forward all at once.
