Catchfence

It’s not a random number, the “36″ that’s plastered on the door of the black Toyota Marc Davis intends to race Saturday night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

It was chosen to represent the 36 years since an African American driver competed in NASCAR’s top ranks in a car he owned himself.

That driver was Wendell Scott of Danville, Va., who died of cancer in December 1990, largely forgotten by stock-car racing after a career that left him with a lone victory (in 495 starts) and scarcely more fame and riches than he had when he started.

Davis, 18, a native of Silver Spring, was 6 months old when Scott died. But he knows his story well, having been tutored in recent years by Wendell Scott Jr., who regaled him with stories about hard knocks and hard times, towing his father’s under-funded racecar all over the South and forever making do with less.

- Washington Post