Wendell Scott crossed the finish line first at Speedway Park in Jacksonville, FL, in 1963 but Buck Baker, a white driver, was initially declared the winner of the event. Only once fans left the track was Scott declared the winner.
Scott ended up with the winner’s check and will forever be known as the first black man to win a NASCAR race but was never awarded the trophy for the race.
Back in 2010 some historians pieced together a winner’s trophy for Scott based on what they could find that was given out by the track but now Scott’s family is wanting a formal trophy from NASCAR.
Scott died of spinal cancer in 1990 at he age of 69. He ran 495 races in the Cup Series over 13 seasons scoring 147 top ten finishes. He was inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in 2015.
