Yard sale find offers glimpse into NASCAR's old days

When Glenn Sellers stumbled across a yard sale in Concord a few years ago, little did he know he would discover a piece of NASCAR history that is now headed to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

The Mount Pleasant resident discovered a scrapbook at the yard sale which collected old NASCAR newspaper clippings as well as autographed photos of race care drivers. And hidden among the unknown treasure was a letter written by Wendell Scott, one of only a handful of black drivers in NASCAR history.

Sellers is donating the letter to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

For those who don’t know about Scott, he was a Danville, Va., native who was a former moonshine runner and taxicab driver. He made his first Grand National appearance in 1961, according to ESPN.com.

“Wendell is an important part of NASCAR history,” said Buz McKim, NASCAR Hall of Fame historian. “Wendell was not the first African-American NASCAR driver, but he certainly was the best and the most important. He worked with less of a budget but still managed to win a Cup Series race and place in the Top 10 in points for three consecutive seasons. Many factory-backed drivers cannot say the same.”

McKim said Scott’s character went a long way during those early days in NASCAR.

“Scott struggled against financial concerns and old South racism with grace and class,” McKim said. “As good a driver as he was, his character was just as legendary.”

The letter Sellers discovered was Scott’s reply to fan mail he received by Clyde Kluttz, of Concord, and is a snapshot into the struggles Scott faced.

“Here’s this guy running and competing with the big guys without absolutely any sponsorship,” Sellers said. “He was unsponsored and he was telling (Kluttz) he was so grateful that somebody’s pulling for a little unsponsored guy like him.”

The 1962 letter shows a piece of history that will now be part of the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

“I only hope in the near future I will have a real good car so I can show the boys the way around the track,” Scott wrote in his letter to Kluttz. “I don’t have any help so I have to do the best I can.”

Sellers said he began talking to the NASCAR Hall of Fame about donating the piece when he and his family visited last fall.

Now, before you go thinking Sellers is a huge racing fan, he’ll be the first to tell you he isn’t. He’s a history buff with a sense of community who has been interested in history ever since he was in the history club in high school.

His collection of antiques includes such wide-ranging items as a 1955 Chevy Bel Air and a presidential box with the White House seal. He’s not sure which president it belonged to, but hopes to eventually research it and find out.

Sellers may not be a big race fan, but he still has memories of growing up with NASCAR as part of the community.

He lived in Harrisburg, just three miles from Charlotte Motor Speedway, raised on a dairy farm. He remembers listening to the radio broadcasts of the races while watching his uncle working on his Rambler Rebel car.

“And we could hear the cars going around at the speedway,” Sellers said. “Because of the proximity of Harrisburg, you could hear the races.”

While Sellers may not be a huge NASCAR fan, he appreciates people like Clyde Kluttz who collected the history of racing, keeping stories of the good old days of NASCAR driving.

“I discovered it, but these are the true people,” Sellers said. “The Clyde Kluttzes were the true racing fans.”

Sellers’ wife, Candace, said the correspondence between Scott and Kluttz shows another element occurring in a time of racial tension.

“This was a white man supporting a black man and we are in the South,” she said. “He saw the man and not the color. To me, that’s saying a lot in the 60s.”