Uppity: The Willy T. Ribbs Story

The film definitely gives the impression that any slight against Willy T. was due to bigotry and ignores any other possibilities. So just from watching the movie, the sabotaging non-communicating engineer at the first Indy attempt and Scott Pruett are both racists. I wonder if Pruett maybe took Willy out to help his teammate get a win? Maybe the engineer thought Willy was an arrogant shiny happy person and chose to not talk to him. We'll never know from that movie. 
 

People see things through whatever filters they have. The movie did a good job of showing some of the terrible things that people did to Willy because of his race, things that I naively was a bit surprised about given the timeframe. 

In reply to nderwater :

I haven't seen that one yet, I remember back in the day the funding numbers kept trending downward as Willy described in the documentary.  In the beginning IIRC Cosby and Newman/Haas were footing the bill, with the implication that Newman/Haas would run a car for Willy. Then later on it was just Cosby, and that deal was for $500K then next thing you know it was $350K.  Willy was not one to hold his tounge so while I believe he could have talked himself down to $350K it would be interesting to hear what actually happened. 

@gingerbreadman now days people call it "networking" my parents were born in the 30s in Queens NY call/called it schmoozing.

My mother in law was born very near Talladega in the 30s, she was a very forthright person, had very exacting standards and spoke her mind. She worked in the Casino industry from the 60s to the 90s, if your not familiar with the industry in the 60s & 70s it was very racially divided, yet she managed to befriend a couple of Casino owners. She worked as a maid and a switch board operator. No one who ever met my mother in law would make any "step & fetch it" comments about her, she had the ability to turn on the charm and give a blunt assessment of the situation all in the same conversation. There is a huge skill in that. My only point is (my opinion) Willy T didn't appear to posses that skill and that likely was the key factor.

I finished the movie and just felt that DWR Podcast was just overall more interesting. When watching Uppity, I was hoping to hear more of the business side,  like the 30 for 30 that was about Lynn St James and her DWR podcast.  It made it seem that he just picked up the phone and got a ride, and that is how racing works. As a indycar fan I know that is not how it works. I would have also liked to hear more about his dad, because they gave him very little credit and he was the one that raced not his Grandfather. 

I did watch it and realized I had caught part of it some time ago. Just a section about his ending with Roush. 

Anyhow. I guess I have met many a mid/northern Californian person of color from the same age bracket as Mr Ribbs. The culture of the area at that time would put anyone from there at odds with anyone from the south. Just like I find it hard to talk to my New York cousins. They aren't specially weird people and neither am I, but I know at times we just don't gel.

WillyT Ribbs fit the mold mostly. Of that northern Californian that was trying to move forward following the dreams of the civil Rights movement. Just be the best you can, stay cool, but don't let someone get away easy with slighting you for how you look. Keep in mind that men of color were being lynched rather unfortunately through the first years of his life up until his mid teens. So it is a present issue not a past one. 

A guy who raced well against the legends of the era was never able to get a solid drive. It may be easy to say that he just needed to talk nicer or was lacking some other skill. But really at the time, and now, it is very hard for marketing folks to break the all white image without backlash. Heck the first ever USA TV onscreen kiss between two Asians was on what, LOST?!? It was a passing comment that popped into my head from my cousin in the advertising industry. He said that almost half the people of color acting on TV commercials now are kids of color portraying adopted kids of a white family. A weird fad but indicative of how the USA just can't accept a black family selling them XYZ during any program. Not just black targeted programming. So it is very expected that Willy T Ribbs would tick all the racing boxes but a potential sponsor's marketing team would simply have no idea what to do with him back then and even now. 

I felt it was a good snapshot of his time. Entertaining, as in the end, it is entertainment. 

In reply to Advan046 :

I wholeheartedly agree.  I remember the backlash from a certain Cheerios commercial a few years back.  Nowdays i believe you see more interracial couples and racially blended families in commercials than IRL. I'm honestly not sure it's because we are "culturally enlightened" or if it's as you say indicative of how the USA just can't accept a black family selling them XYZ.  I didn't know about the Asian onscreen kiss, that is amazing..

For me the marketing people and or consumers having and issue with a black man selling them product doesn't wash. I remember very well  the OJ Simpson running though the airport commercials of the 70s as well as several others with black athletes. 

While I have no doubt that in a southern centric series as NASCAR was, Ribbs would have had issues with some people or more correctly they would have issue with him but that may or may not have had any effect on his career. The things Wendell Scott endured far outstrips anything Ribbs would have experienced. 

More than one of mine and my wife's family have experienced racism of the life threatening and life ruining kind so forgive me if I don't buy into the current standard of what some people deem racism. 30 years ago I had to explain to a friend coworker his mal-treatment form people had nothing to do with his skin color, it was more of a case of people mistaking his intense personality for his being a shiny happy person in your face personality. 

Now for the comments on commercials, my brother and law (he is gay) and I bag on the obvious attempts to cater to a certain group of people in commercials. As if we're going to run out and buy their product simply becuase the included coupes that look like us. It's patronizing and actually kind of insulting.

I have a very good friend that's a woman, and black.  Shes a writer, very intelligent and very good looking, but when she needs something done that's of somewhat importance, she calls me up and says it's take a white man to work day.  They do treat her differently, even today, and for simple items such as buying new tires or work on her house.  When we are out together it is shocking to see the looks you get.  You would think in this day and age racism wouldn't still be an issue, but it is.  

My wife and I still get looks but now it's the "why is that good looking young woman with the old bald guy". My wife is one of those people who look much younger than she actually is.

There will always be ignorant people in the world so yeah bigotry isn't going away but thankfully it's now considered abhorrent behavior. 

I am surprised that Wendell Scott's name did not come up. He raced and won NASCAR thirty years earlier despite having no money and no sponsors and sometimes showing up at races to be turned away because he was black. He had a far tougher time. I think it was him who once won a five hundred miler despite doing his own tire changes because he had no pit crew. Ribbs in fact had some pretty decent advantages because he was black and not despite being black.

In reply to bearmtnmartin :

The documentary was about Willy T. Ribbs, not Wendell Scott. There was a cameo picture of Wendell Scott at the end though. Exactly what advantages did Willy T. have because he was black?  Not being sarcastic, I'd really like to know.

I suspect he mean he got more attention, or free marketing, which can be good for sponsors (or getting sponsors).  Of course, when he was running, it's hard to say whether that's good or bad.  If it was today it would almost clearly be a benefit but would not be as attention getting.

If you watched the documentary, exactly the opposite happened.  He did get more attention, but that did not translate into getting sponsors.  Much of that attention was negative,  definitely not beneficial. (death threats, on and off-track altercations, outright sabotage at his Indy rookie test)  On the face of it, Willy T. being black placed him at a disadvantage, despite his talent.  Even though his dad was a moderately successful club racer, Willy T. did not have any rides just handed to him, and was actively discouraged to go racing by his family.  Yes, he had an attitude.  A chip on his shoulder some would say.  He was no saint, and definitely not a turn the other cheek kind of guy.  I think the question the documentary asks is, would he have experienced the same difficulties if the only thing that was different about the situation was the color of his skin.  Everyone forms their own opinion, but IMHO, it answers that with a resounding no.  If he was white, he probably would have been a "bad boy" type like Jacques Villeneuve or Paul Tracy, or Jeff Gordon before shaved off his mustache.  A loudmouth with attitude who you tolerate and respect because he's good at what he does.  I think all he asked for was an opportunity to show what he could do without a thumb on the scale in either direction.  Anyway, it is what it is. 

It was a tough story to tell.  And honestly growing up from modest means in a city that was mostly minority, I never really saw racism until later in life.  I have figured out from my own childhood and watching my kids, it is 100% learned behavior.  It is the lowest common denominator of human intelligence.  You literally dislike someone for who their parents were.  I don't know about you, but I didn't get to pick mine.

In 1989 at a university in TX, I received death threats and awful notes in my dorm mailbox and under my door.  Why?  Because I was friends with a very pretty Cajun mixed race girl in my math class.  She was literally so pretty, I was scared to ask her out.  All we ever did was walk with and talk to one another.  Needless to say I left that university after one year.

It's pretty clear no matter how you frame it, Willy Ts support and equipment didn't match his talent most of his career.  Why? Sure his personality played a role.  But to say his race didn't play some role is to deny stupidity still thrives among us.  

Things are way better today, but there is still way too much stupid to go around and it isn't the sole domain of any one culture either.  I've traveled a lot in the Navy and in my current job.  If you just watch you can see it all too often.  There are parts of the world where racism, sexism, and classisism are the norm and not unusual.  Stupid is as stupid does.

In reply to 06HHR :

I always thought of Willy T as a black Darrell Waltrip.  Darrell had a big mouth, shot it off a lot, and had talent.  

In reply to 06HHR and AnthonyGS:

Nail on the head.

In reply to spitfirebill :

I can see that, wonder what Willy's catchprase would have been?  Boogitey, Boogitey, Boogitey!

In reply to 06HHR :

That was my takeaway from the doc as well. Willy T was friends with Ali - one of the best E36 M3 talkers of all time.