Early into the premiere episode of Race, the six-part Netflix docuseries on Bubba Wallace, the thesis statement comes roaring in as loud as a stock car at wide-open throttle. “I think a lot of the world needs to understand that this is probably the most pressured athlete in all of sports history,” muses Ryan Hall, Wallace’s baby-faced manager. And while no one would deny the unique stresses that Wallace has endured as the only Black driver in Nascar’s top racing division … pump your brakes.
At last check Warner Bros just dropped a feature film about two Black girls from Compton who somehow went on to dominate the lily-white world of tennis. And then there’s also that Black kid from Stevenage who broke into Formula One on the way to becoming arguably the greatest driver in the sport’s history. The Old World racism that the Williams sisters and Lewis Hamilton overcame on their way to the top is every bit as virulent as the Southern fried variety that Wallace, 28, has to reckon with — and the Williams and Hamilton haven’t entirely risen above it either. This self-important streak is a major headwind for Race, which would’ve been better served by letting the whirlwind driver’s life speak for itself.
