Considered one of the best sportsmen of all time, the six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan has decided to invest in a new playground. The basketball legend announced, Monday, September 21, that he became the owner of a very popular NASCAR championship racing team in the United States.

As a child, the future star of the Chicago Bulls used to go admire the pilots.

“When I was little in North Carolina, my parents took my brothers, sisters and me to races, and I've always been a NASCAR fan,” he said in a statement.

Michael Jordan and @dennyhamlin Partner to Form New NASCAR Team.

@BubbaWallace To Join Team as Driver for 2021 NASCAR Cup Series.

https://t.co/I4Cfr8x3Gq pic.twitter.com/UjRC2UGksV

- Estee Portnoy (@esteep) September 22, 2020

An iconic pilot

Michael Jordan thus realizes a childhood dream, but also invests himself a little more in the fight against racism.

After announcing last June, following the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American, killed during his arrest in Minneapolis, that he was going to give $ 100 million to an organization fighting against inequalities in his country, he chooses today to get involved more concretely.

With his friend the former driver Denny Hamlin, with whom he associated, they recruited for their new team the only black driver of this championship, Bubba Walace.

“Historically, Nascar has always struggled with diversity and there have been few black owners,” described the former basketball player.

"The timing seems perfect as Nascar is evolving and adapting more and more to social change. In addition to the recent commitment and donations I have made to fight against systemic racism, I see this as a chance to 'educate a new audience and open more opportunities for blacks in racing.

This automobile championship is in fact "both in the stands and in the paddocks", "a predominantly white sport", as Loïc Pialat, the correspondent for France 24 in California, noted.

By choosing Bubba Wallace, Michael Jordan wishes to make him a symbol.

This 26-year-old driver is known for his convictions.

"After the death of George Floyd, he convinced the NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag during the Grands Prix", explains Loïc Pialat.

"It is a flag that we often saw during the races. This banner of the slave camp during the Civil War has remained a strong symbol culturally in the southern United States, where the NASCAR is the most popular."

This summer, Bubba Wallace was also talked about after the discovery, in his garage, of a rope in the form of a noose, a symbol of lynchings in the United States.

Although the FBI had concluded after investigation that it was not a racist act, it had received support from the other pilots.

Bubba Wallace does not hesitate to appear with a Black Lives Matter tshirt on the track.

This is a unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that I believe is a great fit for me at this point in my career.

I'm grateful and humbled that they believe in me and I'm super pumped to begin this adventure with them.



🤘🏾



BW https://t.co/q5tCyiurpi

- Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) September 22, 2020

A player turned activist

By recruiting him, Michael Jordan signs a strong commitment while for a long time, his lack of convictions was criticized.

During his long career as a player, the famous number 23 was careful not to display political orientations.

In 1990, during the race for the US Senate in North Carolina, his home region, some criticized him for not publicly supporting African-American Democrat Harvey Gantt against Republican elected official Jesse Helms, known for his racist positions. .

At the time, the basketball player, who had become a billionaire thanks to his multiple contracts, including the very lucrative one with Nike, had split this sentence to explain his neutrality: "Republicans also buy shoes".

Since then, Michael Jordan has returned to his words which have long pursued him.

“I congratulate Muhammad Ali for having defended his convictions,” he was justified in the documentary on Netflix devoted to the Chicago Bulls team and released in 2020. “But I have never considered myself an activist. I considered myself a basketball player. I wasn't a politician when I played my sport. I focused on my craft. Was it selfish? Probably. But that was my energy. That's where my energy was. "

In recent years, in a period marked by repeated murders of black citizens by white police officers, the legend of the orange balloon has gradually emerged from its silence.

"I see and feel the pain, outrage and frustration of everyone. I am on the side of those who denounce the ingrained racism and violence against people of color in our country. We have had enough (...) Everyone of us must be part of the solution and we must work together to ensure justice for all, "he said last May after the death of George Floyd.

A competitor at heart, Michael Jordan also likes a challenge.

After becoming the owner of the Charlotte Hornets NBA club, he intends to shine in Nascar.

"I think Bubba has the potential to become a champion. If I didn't think so, I wouldn't have gone into this," he told The Charlotte Observer.

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