Wallace was racing in Nascar’s Pro Invitational Series event at Bristol Motor Speedway and found himself involved in several early incidents.
With no fast-repairs left to use, he was faced with spending the rest of the race running around at the back with a damaged car, so decided to just drop out of the race.
It’s a very relatable feeling – we’ve all had those races online where nothing goes right and you’d rather just back out and take the hit to your iRating or whatever than just run around with no hope.
However, it’s perhaps not the best thing to do when you’re racing in a series designed to provide fans with entertainment in times of quarantine and actual races being cancelled. As a result, Wallace ended up with a bit more than just negative messages from disappointed fans.
It turns out that one of Wallace’s sponsors, Blue-Emu, wasn’t too happy being associated with a quitter, and announced that they’d be pulling sponsorship – very publicly, on Twitter. Ouch.
GTK where you stand. Bye bye Bubba. We're interested in drivers, not quitters.
— Blue-Emu (@BlueEmu1) April 5, 2020
Thank you @PBPStelzy. Please pass along our apologies to your kids. We grew up watching racing too, and can't imagine any of our heroes behaving this way. If you could message us your contact info, we'll be sure to send a care package for you too.
— Blue-Emu (@BlueEmu1) April 5, 2020
Imagine all the kids watching this with their families, in real time. We stand by our decision.
— Blue-Emu (@BlueEmu1) April 5, 2020
100% we would. Landon got wrecked and didn’t quit.
— Blue-Emu (@BlueEmu1) April 5, 2020
Whatever you think of the reaction, it just goes to show how seriously esports and sim racing is being taken. The event was watched live on Fox Sports in the US by more than 1.3 million people – that’s a huge audience, and seeing a competitor simply quit because they’ve lost all chances of success isn’t a good look.
If other drivers find themselves in the same situation as Wallace in future events, then they’re probably going to think twice about rage quitting…
