Changing the game. Being the only Black NASCAR star comes with both incredible success and high-profile controversy — just ask Bubba Wallace.
The professional stock racer, 27, whose real name is Darrell Wallace Jr., rose to prominence during the 2020 season after successfully campaigning to have the Confederate flag banned from all NASCAR events. “No one should feel uncomfortable when they come to a NASCAR race,” he told CNN in June 2020 after unveiling a Black Lives Matter paint scheme on his car. “It starts with Confederate flags. Get them out of here. They have no place for them.”
His fight for equal rights caused controversy among fans of the sport, but it also brought NASCAR to a brand new audience. Wallace is hoping to expand that audience even further with his Netflix documentary series, Race: Bubba Wallace, which chronicles the driver’s 2021 season.
“This is unlike any project I’ve ever participated in; it’s a raw, emotional and completely transparent account of the events that took place throughout the 2020 and 2021 NASCAR seasons,” Wallace said of the series, which “traces his rise to the elite ranks of NASCAR as the only full-time Black driver and the turbulent aftermath that followed his decision to speak out about racial injustice,” per the official synopsis.
He continued: “With me, what you see is what you get. You’ll witness the peaks and valleys of the sport and see how one’s actions off of the race track are just as important as the ones on it.”
In addition to chronicling his quest for victory on the track, Race will also highlight Wallace’s relationship with his loved ones, including fiancée Amanda Carter. The couple, who have been dating since 2016, got engaged in July 2021 while NASCAR was on hiatus. “Why I waited so long..we will never know,” the athlete wrote on Twitter after Carter, 26, said yes. “The wait is over!! Here’s to forever! Forever ever!”
Carter stood by her partner’s side through the ups and downs of his past few years, advocating for everyone to analyze their own preconceptions about race. “We must continue the conversation, no one is exempt from taking a look at themselves,” she wrote via Instagram in June 2020. “Thank you to those who have been working toward a better future whether that is in private or public, these waves will bring change.”
Keep scrolling to learn everything to know about Race and its star.