When one searches for Bubba Wallace on the internet, on his official Bubba Wallace website, and even in the 23XI Racing description, his name is shown as Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. However, seldom would anyone have heard anyone calling or mentioning his first name, Darrell. Recently, while answering the burning questions of the fans, Wallace revealed the secret behind the same.
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During an interview on Breakfast Club Power 105.1 FM, the 23XI Racing driver was asked how he transitioned from being known as Darrell Wallace Jr. to Bubba.
He credited his sister with the moniker, explaining, it was “My sister! Yes! We don’t know why she won’t. She said she didn’t have a speech impediment. She just decided to call me Bubba. So she’s five years older than me.”
Wallace clarified, “Well, it was confusing at the racetrack, right, because I’m a junior. So, “Hey Darrell” and my dad would turn around and they were trying to get in touch with me. So, we were just like, let’s go with Bubba. It makes it easier and it’s fun. Everybody was like Bubba [it is].”
In his 2020 interview, Wallace delved deeper, stating that he believes his sister couldn’t pronounce ‘brother’ and thus called him Bubba, though he later joked that she was probably too embarrassed to admit that. That’s why, since his birth, she’s always referred to him as Bubba.
Besides that, the #23 Cup driver also addressed a common confusion in his interview, emphasizing that he isn’t Bubba Watson from the golf world, rather he is Bubba Wallace from NASCAR. Wallace admitted that people often get the two mixed up.
Reflecting on his motorsports journey, Wallace shared that he started racing go-karts at nine without a clear path ahead. In fact, he never dreamed or planned to reach the heights he is at today. It just unfolded naturally.
In 2005, Wallace won 35 out of 48 races in the Bandolero Series. By 2008, he became the youngest driver to secure a win at Franklin County Speedway in Virginia.
Wallace captured headlines in 2013 by becoming the first African-American in 50 years to win in one of NASCAR’s three national series — the Truck Series race at Martinsville, leading 96 laps during the same.
In 2018, he became the first African American to compete full-time in NASCAR’s premier Cup Series. Three years later, he achieved another milestone as the first Black driver since Hall of Famer Wendell Scott in December 1963 to win a Cup Series race, with his win at Talladega.
