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On this episode, we are joined by two incredibly beautiful, incredibly stylish, incredibly funny comedians: Marie Faustin and Daddy! And today, I’m going to tell them about one of the most legendary people in Sports: Wendell Scott – the FIRST! Black driver to compete in NASCAR and the FIRST! Black driver to win a race in the Grand National Series, NASCAR’s highest level.

Next time on FIRST! – make sure to catch me and Jade Catta-Preta as we talk about Pura Belpre: the FIRST! Latina librarian at the New York Public Library.

Transcript

SPEAKERS

Kareem Rahma, Daddy, Stephanie Wittels Wachs, Marie Faustin

Kareem Rahma  00:17

Before we start the show, I want to show you a picture. Can you tell me if you know who is it? No cheating.

Daddy  00:25

Is he Egyptian?

Marie Faustin  00:28

He’s got a NASCAR racetrack.

Kareem Rahma  00:30

Yes. Ding Ding Dang, that’s a good guest.

Daddy  00:32

He’s not a driver, but he works on the team.

Marie Faustin  00:34

He’s like the guy that invented the fast wheel. You know how they like..

Kareem Rahma  00:42

Well, those answers are wrong, but they’re very close. It’s actually Wendell Scott, who was the first Black NASCAR driver.

Marie Faustin  00:52

Looked like he might be related to you.

Kareem Rahma  00:54

I was born in Egypt, bro. That’s Africa. Blue eyes. Interesting. Wow. But he’s black.

Marie Faustin  00:59

He has blue eyes. That means he got all the […] Now he looked like this.

Daddy  01:04

He looked like he pretended to be Black. I saw him on the street. I wouldn’t be like it was.

Kareem Rahma  01:18

What’s up, y’all. I’m Kareem Rahma. And welcome to FIRST, a funny show about spectacular people who had a serious impact on society and culture because they were first. On this episode, we are joined by two incredibly beautiful, incredibly stylish, incredibly funny comedians, Marie Faustin, and Daddy Ramezani. And we’re going to talk about someone who you’ve probably never heard of before, which is absolutely fucked up considering that he’s celebrated as the best driver in NASCAR history. My man, Wendell Scott, the first Black driver to win a race in the Grand National series, which is NASCAR’s highest level?

Marie Faustin  02:06

Before you start, sorry, I was a little bit nervous because you call them the first Black driver and I was like, […], did he win? But you said he did, he won. That’s what makes him Black.

Kareem Rahma  02:25

All right. All right. Alright, here we go. I’m gonna get into the story on 3. NASCAR is widely perceived to be a White man sport, but not for no reason. American stock car racing is very much a product of the South dominated early on by bootlegging drivers during the Prohibition era. Bootleggers used crudely improvised racecars to transport homemade liquor from jerry rigged distilleries out in the woods. They usually made their trips at night, hence the name moonshot. And more often than not, they were chased by cops who are after their contraband spirits, Dukes of Hazzard is probably the best pop culture example of what this little business was like. And they had a big old confederate flag painted on their car.

Daddy  03:17

Yeah, you kind of already lost me says South White man’s for like, it’s not given. I don’t know why this nigga got into it.

Marie Faustin  03:25

I think you ought to look at predominantly White sports, right? You don’t actually have to have muscles more strength or be able to jump that high. Like you could be fat. No fitness exam. You don’t have to be one of one. You have to have money for a car or money for some.

Kareem Rahma  03:47

Well, that’s why the story is so interesting, because when the Scott didn’t have money. Up until recently, you’d find just as many Confederate flags at racecar events as American flags. One track even used one in place of the traditional checkered flag at the finish line. But in 2015, the chairman of NASCAR at the time Brian France tried to change that with a sweeping ban on Confederate flags. He wanted to make the sport more inviting to non-White fans. He called it an insensitive symbol. NASCAR fans called him less savory names, and he eventually gave up the ban.

Marie Faustin  04:28

How first of all, the flag is ugly. Let’s talk about it. Let’s address the elephant in the beige ass room. The Confederate flag is ugly. Plus, you’re lost. So why are you waving this loser ass banner.

Daddy  04:43

Does the throwback merge. They banned the flag and then they unbanned the flag?

Kareem Rahma  04:50

Yeah, yeah, bullied. Okay, so, in 2020 the ban was revisited and eventually enacted. When bubba Wallace, the one and only contemporary Black NASCAR driver led the charge. After George Floyd’s death, Bubba drove a stock car with a Black Lives Matter paint job. It was a really amazing sight except that he finished 11th in that race.

Marie Faustin  05:17

Out of how many? 12.

Kareem Rahma  05:21

Don’t let that fool you. Bubba is a very good driver. He actually won a race at NASCAR’s highest level in 2021. But if he was wanting to be the first ever Black driver to have done that, he’d been about 58 years too late because that title, the title of first Black driver to win a NASCAR national series race belongs to Wendell Scott. The story of Wendell Scott begins like most NASCAR driver origin stories. It begins in the south. In 1921, over 100 years ago, Wendell Scott is born in Danville, Virginia, a classic southern town which only stands out because at one point for several days at least, it was the capital of the Confederacy just before Robert E. Lee surrendered in 1865. His father William Scott was also a bit of a racer himself known around town for being a handy mechanic who drove fast. He was one of the area’s first Black drivers because he was the personal chauffeur for two of the wealthiest White families in town. Hopefully those rich White families were not vomiting in the back of windows.

Marie Faustin  06:45

They were drinking moonshine. They were definitely throwing.

Marie Faustin  06:51

That was not a pleasant trip.

Marie Faustin  06:55

They’re drinking bathtub juice. What rubbing alcohol in it? Throwing up all in the back of his station wagon.

Daddy  07:02

What was he driving too? It wasn’t like horses and shit.

Kareem Rahma  07:08

I wouldn’t be calling it a car.

Daddy  07:11

You’d never know. He had a Honda Accord daddy. There’s a black man. Look white people could have had cars in the 20s. But they gonna let the Black people have cars.

Marie Faustin  07:21

Well, he was a mechanic so he was driving the cars after he fixed them and using them for his side job. Picking up wealthy White family.

Kareem Rahma  07:29

Yeah. So Wendell was competitive at an early age and while growing up, he used to race his beat up old bicycle against white kids in the neighborhood. In 11th. Grade, he dropped out of high school and started working as a bricklayer. Danville was flanked by cotton mills and tobacco plants, remnants of slavery. And Wendell told himself He’d never do that for work. He eventually saved up enough money to buy an old Packard, his first car for $15. He started working as a taxi driver. The last Packers were built in 1958. So they don’t exist anymore. But if you google them, they look pretty tight. In 1942, when he was 21 years old, he was arrested for stealing and selling motor oil and did 60 days on a prison farm. I looked it up because I was like, I just had the same reaction. I said, Prison Farm. The bad news is they still exist, which is fucking insane. According to Wikipedia, a prison farm is a large Correctional Facility where penal labor convicts are forced to work on a farm legally and illegally usually for manual labor, largely in the open areas such as an agriculture, logging, quarrying and mining as well as many other.

Marie Faustin  08:54

Stepping on the leg and it’s like rolling in you.

Kareem Rahma  08:59

That’s the weirdest thing about that statement. Prison Farm is a real thing. I thought it was gonna say like, oh, it was abolished like in 1970.

Marie Faustin  09:15

[…] just got the Confederate flag banned in 2022. That’s today.

Kareem Rahma  09:28

Okay, okay, okay, I gotta get through this. I gotta get to the stories. We’re having a lot of fun. But the audience wants to learn about Wendell Scott. So in 1943, he gets out of jail. He goes back to driving a taxi and falls in love with one of his passengers. Mary Coles things were going really well. He was staying out of trouble. They were about to get married. But he was drafted to serve in World War Two. It just sounds like a too romantic comedy like white woman in the back of a taxi cab.

Daddy  10:13

He was kind, until he turned around.

Kareem Rahma  10:15

I saw his blue eyes.

Daddy  10:17

I saw his blue eyes in the rearview mirrors., I thought he was White.

Kareem Rahma  10:21

Yeah, they’re gonna cast Vin Diesel to play one.

Marie Faustin  10:25

Nothing’s more important than family.

Kareem Rahma  10:28

They’re like, you know, Vin Diesel is Black.

Marie Faustin  10:31

You know, it’s gonna be the rock. Ryan Reynolds with a kinky week.

Daddy  10:42

Like Vin Diesel will be a side character.

Kareem Rahma  10:52

Presenting Vin Diesel, as The Rock in the story of Wendel Scott.

Marie Faustin  10:57

And people are like, wow, the car?

Kareem Rahma  11:01

Okay, so things were going really well. He was staying out of trouble, and they were about to get married, but he was dressed to serve in World War Two. He served his duty as an Army mechanic. And when he came home, he married goals. They considered moving to California to get away from the racism. But he stayed in the countryside and Wendell opened up his own auto shop. Eventually, essentially, they had seven kids.

Marie Faustin  11:22

So they thought about leaving for the racism. And then they were like not a sweet tea too.

Kareem Rahma  11:35

And they had kids, seven, seven kids, which leads me to my next point. They come in handy in the future of the store. I’ll let you know that. Look, so he was arrested for selling the oil. Sounds Egyptian to me. So this leads me to my next point. He tried to keep things legal, but that wasn’t keeping the lights on. He just heard it a family. So he applied what he learned building fast and strong engines in the army and in his auto shop, souped up his car and started running illegal moonshine. There’s a story that’s not a legend, where a rival bootlegger tipped off the cops about a run Wendell was about to make at the city limit is a snake road that went back and forth and runs downhill with the cops and set up the roadblock Wendall saw this and put his car in reverse. He outran the cops backwards. Then he pulled his emergency brake and spun his car 180 degrees and drove off. He got to a shop so fast that he had time to pull the engine out of the car. And when the cops showed up, Wendell they told them it couldn’t have been him because his engine was being serviced. The cops took them to court but the judge didn’t believe it was possible to outrun the cops and pull his engine out of the car. And the case was dismissed saying next time bring me Wendell the motor and deliver.

Daddy  13:01

That could have been episode right there. First night, man get off get away with it.

Marie Faustin  13:09

The judge said nah, he’s too dumb. Had been outsmarted by him and he was like..

Kareem Rahma  13:21

He wouldn’t always be that lucky. In 1949 At the age of 28, Wendell was caught. He was found guilty and sentenced to three years’ probation. But he continued making his late night whiskey runs, anyways. In 1952, this is when Windows life starts to turn and he gets on track to being a racecar driver. At this time, professional racing is still segregated. But the local racing promoter wanted to put a Black driver on the Danville track to sell more tickets as a gimmick. The promoter asked the police who is the fastest Black driver around and no joke the cops have busted him earlier in 1949.

Marie Faustin  14:07

They say we don’t know no niggas with cars. Oh, you know what now that you ask, what’s that Black. The one with the no engine that the judge like oh when you know that remembered his name? I love that for him.

Daddy  14:35

They’re making a new friends.

Kareem Rahma  14:36

No, but if they did, I’m sure it’ll be an Asian guy. A Mexican guy or Latino guy.

Daddy  14:44

It would be seven white people and one person who’s all of those things. You represent America.

Kareem Rahma  15:00

So on May 23 1952, Wendell brought his souped up new shine running car to the Danville track and became one of the first ever Black box car racers in the South. There were other races before Wendell in the north, and there were also black only circuits. But this was the first time a black man would race in a white race. Unfortunately, this first go at it was kind of a disaster for Wendell, his car broke down, and he didn’t finish the race. However, it was still an illuminating experience. In his words, once I found out what it was like, racing was all I wanted to do as long as I could make a decent living out of it. I’m no different from most other people who are doing what they like to do.

Daddy  15:47

So wait, so he wasn’t really like trying to be a racist. He was just like a Black dude who just could drive well, and just stumbled into racing.

Kareem Rahma  15:55

Yeah, he was just good at running moonshine. He was good at running from the cops. And he was good as a mechanic, but he never wanted to be a racecar driver.

Marie Faustin  16:02

Hey, I got a car and I’m Black. You need one? Okay, I’ll be there.

Daddy  16:15

So, this isn’t just had to drive. It’s like you can’t stop on your way to just drive drive drive, drive drive drive.

Marie Faustin  18:53

I don’t anything about the South but they don’t really like us down there. So especially back in those days. He could have just moved to California. And he got to bring his own gas. That’s why he didn’t move to California. They had to drive across the country and it was gonna run out of gas.

Daddy  19:24

We could make it to Illinois.

Kareem Rahma  19:30

So in Lynchburg, Virginia, which I googled that name still exists they kept the name what is this?

Daddy  19:42

That was why it was called Lynchburg. So I just never read into it because I’m like God, no, I know what I’m having done no research.

Kareem Rahma  19:50

Well, in Lynchburg, Virginia in the 13th lap of a race a wheel flew off Mendel’s car and injured five fans. It nearly set off a race riot but a White driver named Earl Brooks, also a legend in his own right, a NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver whose career spanned nearly two decades, jumped on the back of Wendell’s car with a lead pipe and said, you got to come through me to get to him. Earl put his life on the line to protect Wendell, and they became good friends and remained friends for life.

Daddy  20:23

Oh, why do we jump on the car. It was like, we gotta make it about me. I’m gonna implant myself into history. We’ll be talking about this on the podcast. I’m just questioning why he was like, I’m gonna always question why. Maybe it was a good person. Yeah, maybe he was a good person. Shout out to all the girls out there listening to this, James Earl Jones.

Kareem Rahma  20:54

We just named them both. All right, so in Winston […] What’s with these names? What’s the sounds a pack of cigarettes Lynchburg Virginia pack of cigarettes.

Marie Faustin  21:04

I don’t know nothing about cigarettes. My body is a temple. All right, Winston Salem.

Kareem Rahma  21:16

In Winston Salem, North Carolina race organizers would give Wendell the okay to race but take back their word when they realized he was Black. Wendell cried when they turned them down. In High Point North Carolina. They said he needs to find a White driver to compete. And at Zion crossroads. Wendell won the race, but the organizer refused to pay him the prize money.

Marie Faustin  21:37

What was it like $27?

Kareem Rahma  21:39

I don’t know. But cars are 15. So even if it was 27 was like, yeah. Fans yelled slurs at him threw trash at him. His son was injured when someone threw a firecracker at him. Some white drivers even tried to wreck it. Sometimes sabotaging him by slashing his tires. But Wendell didn’t retaliate. Instead, he kept winning races and fans started to like it, they thought he was hardworking and didn’t think he was trying to be a Black hero. So they got over their own racist hang ups and rooted for him. But at least he wasn’t getting like race riot people trying to kill him.

Marie Faustin  22:26

I mean, they just slashing his tires. Not giving him money. And then they’re like, oh he pretty good. Nobody would have tire. Oh, wow, that will […]. I’m good. Well, what’s left? You can be the first Black man in a silk blouse to fill in the blank. You got to be that specific? Because that’s all that’s left is. You got to be the guy with the blouse. The first Black guy to I don’t know, I can’t.

Kareem Rahma  23:43

Let’s take this offline. Let’s circle back. Other drivers started respecting Wendell because he was able to compete without having much of anything. When his car would break down. He dive in with a flashlight in his mouth and fix it himself, Wendell also recognize other drivers from his bootlegging business, and would still sell the moonshine sometimes right on the track.

Daddy  24:07

Now you got his check, two birds one stone. They go by me.

Kareem Rahma  24:14

Although Wendell had always said fuck NASCAR, racing on the Dixie circuit and non NASCAR speedway’s, he kept trying to get in, knowing that it was the biggest stage. But NASCAR kept rejecting Wendell’s attempts to enter one of their official races, saying he needed a NASCAR license knowing it would be impossible for him to secure one. I think you have to apply to NASCAR. My name is Wendell Scott. I’m applying for NASCAR.

Marie Faustin  24:44

It’s been always my dream to be on that big dusty track.

Daddy  24:48

So he should have got the vegan license before he got famous because they didn’t know that name. […]

Kareem Rahma  25:08

But in 1954, at the Richmond Speedway, Wendell found an ally named Mike […], who gave him what he needed. So this Mike […] and guy literally was like a low level NASCAR guy. And he was like, alright, dude, that’s cool. This is what it says. They were like, he didn’t care about his job. And he was just like, alright, man, you gotta have a license.

Marie Faustin  25:41

I love Wendy’s. What’s the last for your social? Anyway, back to Wendell’s.

Kareem Rahma  25:52

All right. After three years of enduring racism and countless races with several wins under his belt, Wendell Scott, officially became the first black driver in NASCAR. This is big time; Wendell start a driving five days a week. Though a driver didn’t need to win a race to get gas money. Promoters refuse to give Wendell anything. But Wendell became friends with Bill France who’s best known for founding and managing NASCAR. And Bill would give Wendell money out of his own pocket.

Marie Faustin  26:25

Well, because Bill’s making money, right?

Kareem Rahma  26:30

But in Bill’s France’s words. I’m using air quotes. You’re a NASCAR member. And as now, you will always be treated as a NASCAR member. Yo, those seven kids I was talking about earlier though. They did come in handy. They did serve as the pit crew since Wendell could barely afford to keep his car running.

Daddy  26:49

Man talking about you gonna be treated like a NASCAR member. Who else got the kids out there changing your tires and engine?

Marie Faustin  26:59

Like my wife, Darlene. My mother in law. My pastor here. And then it was just doing the baptism, holy water, all the water and he’s wiping the wheel with it. Yeah.

Kareem Rahma  27:18

Still, Wendell was refused any sponsors was chased out by violent mobs and even denied permission to race after arriving at the track. So he represented himself called himself his own owner took a reverse mortgage on his family home, something he’d do seven times over the course of his career and use the money to fix up his car enough to stay competitive in the more elite NASCAR circuits. Because when the wasn’t sponsored, he begged other drivers for spare parts to make repairs to his cars. Good year had an unofficial policy where they gave free tires to any independent driver who finished in the top 10. They refused. They refused to give him. But, he drove on Firestones instead.  In 1961 at age 40, after nine years of winning dozens of races in regional level competitions, including two championships, he moved up to the Grand National series of NASCAR. This is huge, the very top of the game. So during his first season on the Grand National series, he’s widely considered to be the best rookie based on points and finishes, but they give that award to Woody Wilson. Wilson only placed in the top 10 Once Wendell placed in the top 10, 5 times. Wendell also finished nine positions higher in the point standings than Wilson. Jean Granger, a NASCAR historian had this to say. Wendell Scott, want it hands down. If you want to talk about where Wendell really got screwed. He should have been Rookie of the Year. There’s no doubt in my mind, there was a conspiracy. They did not want a Black man to get it. At that point, shit was crazy when there’s a great fucking driver but he hasn’t been getting credit among smokers. We’re really out there trying to kill him on the track in 1962 at the savannah Speedway in Georgia, Wendell not only set the fastest qualifying time of the day, but also set the track record. Guess what? Nobody celebrated. Instead, another driver Jack Smith, threatened to wreck him during the race even if you get disqualified or suspended. Smith then threatened to wreck Wendell at the next race in Georgia. When he pulled up next to Wendell during pacing laps. He pointed his finger at Wendel broadcasting his attention to wreck him. So Wendell pulled out a pistol.

Kareem Rahma  29:55

He pointed it at Smith. Smith backed up went seven places behind and never gave Wendell shit again.

Marie Faustin  30:06

That’s what the Second Amendment is all about. The right to bear arms for. Having a gun in a NASCAR car at the race. You even have a glove box?

Kareem Rahma  31:30

He had in the in the waistband strap. So three years into NASCAR’s highest level. This is when the man meet the moment. Wendell has been doing well more than holding his own, but he hasn’t quite fully broken through. It’s 1964 in Jacksonville, Florida at Speedway Park, and Wendell notices that the track is falling apart. So he removes one of the two shock absorbers from each wheel, which somehow let him fly over the potholes instead of bounce over them. And when other cars pulled into the pit for repairs, Wendell kept driving, His strategy was working. And guess what, he finished in first place that day, making him the first Black NASCAR driver to win a Grand National event. But always, there’s always a but with these people. There’s always.

Marie Faustin  32:30

There’s never really a but.

Daddy  32:46

He’s still looking forward to it.

Kareem Rahma  32:50

Her back has a crack. But, they didn’t wave the checkered flag. The scoreboard was blank. Instead they waved the flag for Buck Baker and decided Scott had finished third.

Daddy  33:22

That was crazy thing. That was Wendy. I mean, like, that’s great. That’s why I’m like why people back then didn’t even have to justify it was like yeah, yeah, he was third. Yeah.

Marie Faustin  33:31

But that is what is so crazy about the history of this country is they just do they’ve always just did what they wanted to do. Right? And now it’s like, alright, well, let’s talk about it in school. They’re like critical, right? You want to talk about what we used to do? Know what we did affected y’all now? Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.

Kareem Rahma  33:53

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the best NASCAR racer ever. Well, that’s why they always use the phrase rewrite history. Because it’s literally true. It’s like this man was the first not only the first he was the best people still say he’s the best, especially with all the things that he like no sponsors, souping up his own shit. Selling whiskey, seven kids, racism.

Daddy  34:19

And now you didn’t shoot yourself. That means the time flew off.

Kareem Rahma  34:27

Oh, I think he probably got the gun after they almost killed her. But like all it so all of that. They’re like, Oh, no, he was the best driver of all time. Damn, that is like Michael Jordan, like he undisputed, best basketball player because we saw him. But this guy was a hunt. Like, you know, he was born 100 years ago. So he just got written out of the history books, but it’s the fucking truth. And now peep NASCAR historians regular soldier. Yes, he was the best driver. He was the first Black driver and he was also one of the best drivers ever to live with.

Marie Faustin  34:58

So they gave him third place. They gave him third, did they pay him that time?

Kareem Rahma  35:03

Well, they gave the trophy to buck Baker, who didn’t win, decided Scott finished third, Baker accepted the trophy, like a little bitch, and the customary kiss from a white beauty queen. Behind the scenes, NASCAR only admitted they committed a scoring error. But it was later figured that NASCAR officials were horrified at the image of a White beauty queen kissing Wendell, a Black man. years later, the owner of the track Julian Klein actually admitted it. I wasn’t about to give that man the trophy and let him kiss the trophy clean. I probably had arrived at the race track if I had.

Marie Faustin  35:45

This is in the 60s.

Kareem Rahma  35:49

So the other guy, Baker, little bitch, kept the trophy and they gave Wendell a cheap wooden one later.

Daddy  36:04

I mean, as like Eva Mendez was in hitch because they didn’t want Will Smith, to be in love with the white woman. And that’s like fucking contemporary.

Kareem Rahma  36:14

Alright, here we go. So eventually, NASCAR award it’s got the win two years later. But his family never received the real trophy he had earned until 2021, 50 years later, Wendell continue to raise at a highly competitive level, consistently landing in the top 10 for seasoned points throughout the 60s. But he never received a commercial sponsorship during his career. And he retired in 1973 at the age of 52.

Marie Faustin  36:48

Did he ever get paid? Did he ever make any money?

Daddy  36:52

How much did he make in this whole career?

Marie Faustin  36:55

What was the reason? What’s the reason that we racing and racing and racing struggling? He refinanced his house seven times and seven kids; he sounds kind of dumb.

Daddy  37:09

I want to talk to his wife, Mary Cole.

Kareem Rahma  37:14

Retention. He started in nearly 500 NASCAR races finishing in the top 10 147 times in the top 520 times, and he won once, which is a remarkable record by today’s standards without the disadvantages Wendell faced. Sadly, Wendell died of cancer in 1990. When he was 69 years old. There was a movie made about his life called Greased Lightning starring Richard Pryor was a good movie, I don’t know, but it does have a 51% fan rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In 2015, in a bit of a nice gesture, Scott was inducted into NASCAR Hall of Fame. But more importantly, he’s recognized by Bubba Wallace for paving the way for him and future Black drivers. Only seven Black drivers have ever participated in a top NASCAR race, and only Wendell and Bubba have actually won. As recently as 2020. Bubba Wallace was gearing up for a race track garage when he found a noose hanging out the gate. Afterwards, an FBI investigation determined that this was not a hate crime, and more of a coincidence. But it really goes to show the kind of paranoia a Black NASCAR driver might have, but things look like they’re starting to change. In 2021, Nashville became the site of the first NASCAR track with a Black president, Eric Moses, and with Wendell Scott finally getting the credit he deserves. Who knows we’ll be inspired to see a future in the auto sport themselves. And that, my friends, is the story of Wendell Scott, the first Black driver to compete in NASCAR and the first Black driver to win in a National Grand series race.

Daddy  39:12

That’s it. You got to tell us at least.

Kareem Rahma  39:24

What do you think?

Marie Faustin  39:25

I don’t know. It just feels like the people who like the Jackie Robinson and the Wendell Scott’s and people like that, who were the first had to fight a lot and almost died and some of them maybe did die. And it just, that’s, it sounds like he struggled more than he needed to struggle. He probably should have not had seven kids. If he has less kids, he would have to be, he could do less races.

Daddy  39:50

You wouldn’t even have to be the best.

Marie Faustin  39:51

Who is that? Oh, he cool. He had to be the best because he had to not lose his house. But also I don’t know what refinancing a house is, but it just feels sounds like pressure. Shout out to Window Scott doing the work that he didn’t really need to do. But yeah, look, it’s 2022 and we’re in a better place, but it’s still pretty bad. So, but now if I wanted to be a NASCAR race driver. I could be the first Black girl do NASCAR.

Kareem Rahma  40:38

Obviously, it would be so tight. If you just said fuck it. I’m doing this. Alright, everyone, thank you so much for listening. We’ll talk to you later. All right, y’all next time on FIRST, me and […], the first Latino librarian at the New York Public Library.

CREDITS  41:20

FIRST is produced by some friends and salts. Ad sales and distribution by Lemonada Media. The show is created and hosted by Kareem Rahma. Executive producers for some friends are Kareem Rahma, Andrew […], researched by […], original audio production music and sound design by Salt. Executive producers for Salt are […] salts Head of Production […], Salt’s head of engineering, […], Salt’s head of post-production Robert Adler’s, Production Manager Alice […], post-production coordinator […], recording engineer Aaron Kennedy, edited and sound designed by […] Harris, dialogue supervision by Noah Kowalski. Additional sound design and music supervision by […], mixed by Ben O’Neil. Original music and composition by […] additional Music courtesy of extreme music recorded at Salt Studios in Los Angeles and the cutting room in New York City.