Frank Scott (FS): He started racing in 1952. And you know, it
was like Picasso. Like a great artist doing his work. And he
But, you know,
was in that car, and he was doing his work. But, you know,
he couldn't get the support. Where other drivers that we were
competing against had major sponsorships, he did everything
that he did out of his own pocket. And as children, we
didn't have that leisure time, you know, we couldn't go to the
playground. He said to us, "I need you at the garage." I can
remember him getting injured and he'd just take axle grease and
put it in the cut and keep working. But he wasn't allowed
to race at certain speedways. He had death threats not to come to
Atlanta. And Daddy said, "Look. If I leave in a pine box, that's
what I gotta do. But I'm gonna race." I can remember him
racing in Jacksonville and he beat them all. But they wouldn't
drop the checkered flag. And then when they did drop the
checkered flag, they had my father in 3rd place. One of the
main reasons that they gave was there was a white beauty queen
and they always kissed the driver. He finally got the
money, but, ah, of course, the trophy was gone,
the fans were gone, the beauty queens were gone.
(WS): Did he ever consider not racing anymore?
FS: Never. That was one of my daddy's sayings,
"When it's too tough for everybody else, it's just
right for me." Like I can remember one
time when we were racing the Atlanta 500 and, um, he was
sick. He needed an operation. And I said, "Daddy, we don't
have to race today." He whispered to me and said, "Lift
my legs up and put me in the car." He drove 500 miles that day.
He always felt like someday he's gonna get his big
break. But, uh, for twenty years nobody mentioned Wendell Scott.
But he didn't let it drive him crazy. I think that's what made
him so great. He chose to be a race car driver and he was going
to race until he couldn't race no more.