Noose found at California NASCAR track on same weekend as Bubba Wallace controversy
Update: The FBI investigation into the noose that was discovered in driver Bubba Wallace’s garage stall at Talladega Superspeedway concluded on Tuesday and found that the noose had been there since October 2019 and that it wasn’t a threat directed at Wallace.
“The FBI has completed its investigation at Talladega Superspeedway and determined that Bubba Wallace was not the target of a hate crime,” NASCAR’S statement on Twitter read. “The FBI report concludes, and photographic evidence confirms, that the garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose had been positioned there since as early as last fall.”
Original story:
Tensions rose in the sports world over the weekend when a noose was found hanging in the garage stall of NASCAR’s only full-time Black driver Bubba Wallace at Talladega Superspeedway, and multiple outlets reported that it wasn’t the only racist gesture that occurred on a popular NASCAR track.
On Saturday morning, a makeshift noose was found hanging from a tree at the Sonoma Raceway in California by a staff member of the track, the Associated Press reported.
“Piece of twine, probably there for a while, but somebody had fashioned it into a shape you can reasonably interpret to be a noose,” Sonoma Raceway general manager Steve Page told NBC Bay Area.
Page said the staff member who happened upon the noose was rattled. “”[The employee] was understandably very upset about it. To have something like that show up on our property is disgusting.”
In a statement to PEOPLE, a raceway spokesperson said that all staff, local law enforcement and on-site business tenants were made aware of the incident and were asked to “share any information they may have.”
“Sonoma Raceway takes this incident very seriously and is dedicated to operating a facility that is welcoming to everyone,” read the statement.
Page told the AP that the incident is currently under investigation by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department.
“We take it seriously; that’s why we’re out there with the violent crimes unit,” sheriff’s spokesman Orlando Rodriguez said, according to NBC. “Put every effort into making an ID on this.”
On Monday, the entire NASCAR family stood in solidarity with Wallace during the rescheduled GEICO 500 race in Talladega, Alabama, as drivers and crewmen pushed his 43 car to the front of the line in a powerful pre-race ceremony, McClatchy News reported.
After the noose was found, Wallace issued a statement on Twitter, calling the act despicable and that it serves as a painful reminder of “how much further we have to go as a society and how persistent we much be in the fight against racism.”
“As my mother told me today, ‘They are just trying to scare you,’” Wallace said in the closing of the statement. “I will not give in nor will I back down. I will continue to proudly stand for what I believe in.”
The FBI is currently investigating the Talladega incident.
This story was originally published June 23, 2020 at 1:51 PM with the headline "Noose found at California NASCAR track on same weekend as Bubba Wallace controversy."