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Home > Sportshour > “It’s much more than being a race car driver” – Nascar racer Bubba Wallace on finding his voice


	Podcast:		Sportshour
	Episode:		“It’s much more than being a race car driver” – Nascar racer Bubba Wallace on finding his voice
	Category:		Sports & Recreation
	Duration:		00:20:11
	Publish Date:		2020-12-19 11:55:00
	Description:		Bubba Wallace joins us to reflect on a turbulent 2020 and to look ahead to racing for his new Michael Jordan owned team in 2021. Wallace led the successful calls for his sport to ban the confederate flag before a subsequent incident in Alabama prompted an FBI investigation. A member of his team found what looked like a noose hanging in his racing stall, with the authorities finding that no hate crime had been committed. As the only black driver at the top level of Nascar, Wallace tells us why it was important to speak out this year and how he feels about what happened in Alabama. He also tells us how excited he is to be working with Michael Jordan and that he’s been enjoying playing Call of Duty with Lewis Hamilton. Mary Annette Pember of the Red Cliff Ojibwe tribe joins us to give her thoughts on the decision of Cleveland’s baseball team to drop the term “Indians” from their name. Pember – who is National Correspondent for Indian Country Today – dismisses the idea that teams using Native American terms and imagery are in some way honouring indigenous people. She also recalls having her home vandalised and receiving threatening phone calls when she spoke out against her local school’s Native American mascot. Ahead of the WBA world super-middleweight champion Callum Smith facing Mexico’s Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in Texas we look at just what the Liverpudlian is up against. Canelo is widely regarded as the finest pound for pound boxer on the planet and is unbeaten in seven years. Former title holders Matthew Hatton, Rocky Fielding and Ryan Rhodes all tried and failed to beat the Mexican. They recall their encounters with him and tell us what Smith needs to do to win. Professor Tony Belli joins us to talk about concussion in football. Belli is leading a study into concussion among Premier League players, which involves those who have suffered head injuries having samples of their saliva tested and compared to that of uninjured players. Research by Belli’s University of Birmingham has already found that saliva contains certain testable biomarkers if a concussion has occurred. He tells us about the test, his hopes for a wider roll-out and his belief that football's lawmakers approving trials for concussion substitutes from January is just the start of the process. Alex Capstick has a special report on hopes for a green men’s football World Cup in Qatar in two years time. The sport’s world governing body FIFA and the tournament organisers are promising a net-zero sustainable event. But can the world’s biggest sporting event, let alone one in a desert nation rich on fossil fuels ever be sustainable? In Sporting Witness – we mark 20 years since the Northern Irish motorbike racing champion – Joey Dunlop – was killed in a high-speed crash in Estonia. Dunlop was loved by fans across the sectarian divide. NBA journalist Lindsay Dunn tells us what to look out for when the new season gets underway on Tuesday and Lizzi Doyle from the Anfield Wrap gives us her thoughts on Liverpool ahead of their game at Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
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