N. Carolina speedway owner selling ‘Bubba Rope’

DANBURY, North Carolina (AP):

The owner of a North Carolina racetrack advertised “Bubba Rope” for sale in a social media marketplace, days after NASCAR said a noose had been found in the garage stall of Bubba Wallace, the top series’ only Black driver, at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Mike Fulp, the owner of the half-mile 311 Speedway in Stokes County, made the pitch Wednesday on Facebook Marketplace: “Buy your Bubba Rope today for only US$9.99 each, they come with a lifetime warranty and work great.’’

Fulp’s Facebook followers criticised the ad, with some self-described loyal spectators saying they would stop attending events at the dirt track because of the post. Critical comments also appeared on the speedway’s Facebook page.

The ad had been taken down by midday Thursday. No one answered the phone at the speedway Thursday, and the inbox couldn’t accept a message seeking comment.

NASCAR officials released a photo Thursday of the rope found Sunday in Wallace’s garage stall that prompted a federal investigation, which determined it had been there since October. The incident came less than two weeks after NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from its venues and races at Wallace’s urging.

Ford Porter, a spokeswoman for Governor Roy Cooper, condemned Fulp’s remarks.

“This incident of racism is horrific and shameful,” Porter said, according to the Greensboro News & Record. “North Carolina is better than this.”

The newspaper says Reidsville National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter president Jeff Crisp said he has contacted the state director of the body about seeking criminal charges against Fulp.

A Facebook post on Fulp’s page Monday announced the speedway is sponsoring a “Heritage Night” tonight. A subsequent post encouraged fans to purchase a variety of items, including Confederate flags and caps, and added, “don’t forget your 2nd Amendment Right, 311 Speedway.”

Declaring “the noose was real”, NASCAR officials released a photo on Thursday of the rope found in the speedway garage stall of black driver Bubba Wallace that prompted a federal investigation into whether he had been the target of a hate crime.

The incident has put racism front and centre for the stock car series that banned the Confederate flag from its venues and races at Wallace’s urging two weeks ago. It also prompted criticism from some fans that NASCAR had somehow overreacted – criticism NASCAR has bristled at and cited in releasing the photo from Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The image was taken by NASCAR security.

“As you can see from the photo, the noose was real, as was our concern for Bubba,” NASCAR President Steve Phelps said. “Based on the evidence we had, we thought our drivers – that one of our drivers had been threatened, a driver who had been extremely courageous in recent words and actions. It’s our responsibility to react and investigate, and that’s exactly what we did.”