Without fanfare, Sonoma Speedway bans Confederate flags

Raceway officials quietly removed Confederate flags in 2018, two years before NASCAR made it a national policy.|

Right at the outset you should know no one in 2018 was tasered, handcuffed, slapped around or tackled in the open field that sits across Highway 121 and Sonoma Raceway. This is noteworthy given the national perception of those who wave the Confederate flag, that they are a rather spirited bunch, given to a vocal volume that could cause deafness to those incapable of fleeing such enthusiasm.

The folks at the racetrack open up that field as a campground for big events, and none are bigger than NASCAR. In 2018, complaints started to filter in from campers. Lot of noise and ruckus coming from those Rebel flag owners. Made people uncomfortable.

“We quietly went into the campground,” said Steve Page, general manager and president of the track, “and asked those few people who had those flags to take them down. We found that peer pressure from adjacent campers was usually enough to resolve the situation.”

The idea struck Page and his folks that such a ban should remain in place. Why unnecessarily agitate people who come for a good time? And the location was right. This is Northern California, a few tractor pulls away from Darlington, South Carolina. So without fanfare, a press release or even a heads-up to NASCAR, Sonoma Raceway in June 2018 banned the Confederate flag at any track event, up to and including Grandma running her smokin’ hot 1956 Ford Falcon.

Said Page: “We decided the low-key approach was better than making a big pronouncement which might have been an invitation to those who might want to defy it.”

The 2019 NASCAR race here came and went without a fuss. Sonoma Raceway, however, no longer will be ahead of the curve, as NASCAR last week announced it is banning all Rebel flags at all of its events. NASCAR’s move also has a bit of Page’s managed thoughtfulness. NASCAR fans who are screaming against the decision will have time to think about it.

Because of COVID-19, NASCAR may run much of the year without fans in the stands, despite announcing Monday its plan to have up to 30,000 spectators at 146,000-seat Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee for a race next month. While there may be few, if any, positive developments from the virus, this is one — fans of the Rebel flag may have an entire year to lower their thermostat.

They will have time to decide if it’s racing they come to see or if it’s an opportunity for them to wave and scream about a symbol of the most bloody and divisive time in America history.

“To me it’s baffling,” said Dr. Lauren Morimoto, a SSU kinesiology professor with an emphasis on the impact of sports in America. “It (the flag) is ridiculous to me. It’s over and done with. The Confederacy no longer exists. They were traitors. It was a rebellion that was put down. And we are still dealing with the fallout from the Civil War?”

The NASCAR fans who vehemently reject the ban claim it’s the beginning of the end of the sport, that they just black-flagged themselves. The months ahead will present them with the opportunity to hear viewpoints other than their own.

Like Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s. Voted the sport’s Most Popular Driver for 15 consecutive years, Earnhardt said, “It’s time for me to listen.” Time to listen as a white man to African Americans and understand what it’s like to be black in this country. Will Junior make a difference? Will Brad Keselowski? Denny Hamlin? Kyle Busch? Ryan Blaney? These drivers have supported the words of Bubba Wallace, the lone African American on the circuit.

To those who love waving the Confederate flag, will they listen to an even more important white man from The South than Dale Earnhardt Jr.? In 1869 Confederate General Robert E. Lee was asked what he thought of a monument erected of him at Gettysburg. Lee rejected the idea.

“I think it wiser,” Lee said, “not to keep open the sores of war.”

The Confederate flag is a monument as well. As monuments of Confederate leaders continue to be toppled in this country one can argue convincingly America is looking at itself more intensely than it ever did in the 1960s. As incidents seem to pop up daily reminding us of racial injustice, NASCAR banning the Bars and Stars is a natural outgrowth of the events surrounding the decision.

“For those of us who grew up with white privilege,” Page said, “I don’t know if we fully understand the level of separation that exists. It (Civil War) was possibly the most shameful chapter in American history.”

That sports now has entered the national discussion, the answer to that is Why Not? To treat athletes and the people who cheer them as one-dimensional bobble heads denies their complexity. We humans are the sum of our parts. To ignore that is dangerous. It encourages simplicity, easy answers that divide, disregard, diminish and ultimately destroy. For a nation divided cannot stand, said Abe The Wise. Page believes time will sober the now-incensed.

“I doubt many will stick to their guns,” Page said. “I believe there are relatively few (dissenters). I heard Bubba Wallace say something that makes sense: If this decision closes the door to a few, it will open the door to a larger group.”

That group will want to watch young men mash the accelerator with the peculiar joy that can only come with knowing life can end on something so minute as a failed tire grip. As driver Boris Said once described NASCAR drivers perfectly: “It’s 43 pit bulls with hand grenades in their mouths.”

Yet, through all that roar and screeching the drivers know what’s acceptable. They know what’s dangerous. They know when they have gone too far. They know the penalties of getting too emotional.

Doesn’t seem out of the question they should ask for the same considerations from their fans.

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