NASCAR Cup Series

Anti-bullying message featured in Nationwide race

Published Oct. 12, 2013 12:55 a.m. ET

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When Ty Field-Smalley killed himself in 2010, his parents devoted themselves to educating others about the dangers of bullying.

It led Kirk and Laura Smalley to the anti-bullying organization Stand for the Silent.

It was an issue country music singer Morgan Frazier understood. She was bullied so badly for two years in elementary school that her mother pulled her out after fifth grade in favor of home schooling.

Frazier went on to record the song ''Hey Bully'' about her experience. The song and Stand for the Silent were featured on the hood of Kevin Swindell's car in Friday's night's Nationwide Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

For Frazier, it was part of a weeklong effort with the Smalley's of visiting schools to educate against bullying.

''I had warts on my face as a kid, and kids would call me ''Warty'' and it was a really terrible thing and my mom had to take me out because it got so bad,'' Frazier said. ''I felt in the last two or three years, every time I turned on the news, there would be a story about a young kid ending their life due to bullying. When I heard about Stand for the Silent, it was just something I really felt strongly I wanted to be a part of.''

Ty Field-Smalley killed himself when he was 11 after two years of bullying. The Smalley's said he retaliated one day at his Oklahoma school, was suspended, and killed himself shortly after his mother brought him home to begin his punishment.

''His mother was in the office almost every day trying to make it stop,'' Kirk Smalley said. ''It's happening way too often. We are losing babies to this every single day around the world.''

Stand for the Silent was brought to Swindell's car through Frazier's label, Sidewalk/Curb.

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