General
"What Hamilton's doing is fabulous, he's put everything on the line"
- GPblog.com
Lewis Hamilton has few predecessors when it comes to dark-coloured drivers who drove an F1 car. One of them is the American Willy T Ribbs, who was offered a test at Brabham by Bernie Ecclestone in 1986. He never drove a Grand Prix, but was at the start of NASCAR and IndyCar races the following years.
According to his own words, he had to deal with racist-motivated incidents there several times. He was known as a man who bites off and therefore fully supports the actions of Formula 1 and among others Lewis Hamilton in their fight against racism.
"What that young man is doing is fabulous," said Ribbs in the Beyond the Grid podcast of Formula 1. "Many athletes, especially in America, are afraid of losing money. Lewis has put everything on the line and when I look at the other drivers in Formula 1, they're manning up and do the right thing".
'Formula 1 is light years ahead'
Ribbs says to be proud of Formula 1 and Mercedes in particular, who make the most visible statement of all teams by painting their car black. The fact that NASCAR and IndyCar do less about this, according to him, is close to his heart. This is what he has experienced in the past.
"Lewis can change a lot and I'd like to team up with him on that. Lewis ran into a lot of resistance, but he didn't get any death threats. So I know how rough it can be. I dealt with it a different way. I never complained, but I let my fists speak. That's how I dealt with racism and I will continue to deal with it like that."
According to Ribbs, Formula 1 is "light years ahead" of the American racing classes with their way of addressing racism.