Dustin Skinner, the son of former NASCAR driver Mike Skinner, apologized Tuesday after previously posting a violently worded Facebook attack on Bubba Wallace.
Referring to the noose that was found Sunday in Wallace’s garage at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, Dustin Skinner wrote, “my hat is off to who put the noose at his car. frankly, I wish they would of tied it too him and drug him around the pits because he has single handedly destroyed what I grew up watching and cared about for 30 years now. I will not watch this sport anymore and that’s sad.”
In a subsequent post, he wrote, “I love everyone this was not about race at all. I disagree with what he is doing but it was stupidly foolish for me to say what I said and I truly regret every bit of it, if there was a way to take last night back I would.. all I can do is say I’m sorry I love everyone and wish the world to pull back together and us all find a positive way to agree or disagree! I’m sorry”
Dustin Skinner, 35, is a former driver who competed once in the NASCAR Truck Series in 2008. He is currently listed as a driving coach and crew chief for the family’s Race Car Solutions company.
Mike Skinner, 62, tweeted twice Monday, distancing himself from his son’s comments.
“Dustin Skinner Is my son and he’s an amazing father and amazing man he’s also a full-grown adult his views are not the same as (wife) Angie and myself we support Bubba have his whole career we don’t like what’s going on in our country anymore than anybody else”
Mike Skinner later wrote, “His comments were in direct opposition to the values we worked to instill to respect, value and accept all people, regardless of race, gender or sexuality. I am devastated by what he said and have spoken with him regarding his comments. …
“Angie and I are proud to be part of the NASCAR community and applaud the changes the sanctioning body has made over the last few weeks to change not only the sport’s policies, but also the culture. The sport of NASCAR is and will be a better place because Bubba Wallace raced in it.”
Wallace, the lone Black driver on NASCAR’s top-level Cup Series, successfully pushed for the organization to ban Confederate flags from its facilities.
Two days after the noose was found at Talladega, the FBI announced Tuesday that an investigation found that the tied rope had been present at the garage since last fall, leading to the conclusion that Wallace was not the target of a hate crime.
The elder Skinner competed for 22 years on the Cup series, posting no wins and 39 top-10 results. He was the Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year in 1997, the same year he was on the pole for the Daytona 500.
He was more successful on the second-tier series, with one win, and especially on the Truck Series, with 28 victories and the series championship in 1995.
(Field Level Media)
