38 replies to this topic

[Jim Thurman]

We've had several threads on the subject (Wendell Scott, Joie Ray - NASCAR's first black driver, or not?, Black Skinned Drivers), but in light of this recent discovery and failing to figure the appropriate thread, I've started a new one...

The following excerpted from the thread "Joie Ray - NASCAR's first black driver, or not?" and a post I made in March 2006...

Originally posted by Jim Thurman


I can't confirm it, but I have reason to believe a driver in one of the 1950's NASCAR GN races held on the West Coast might have been black/African-American.

I can now confirm this. Considering the twists and turns, I hesitate to call this a "first", but as of now...the earliest known African-American driver to compete in a race in NASCAR's top series - then known as Grand National - was Elias Bowie, who raced a Cadillac at Bay Meadows, San Mateo, California on July 31, 1955.

It would figure this would happen on the West Coast, where it could be (and has been) completely overlooked.

This has been quite an adventure. More on it later, questions and comments welcomed.

[HistoricMustang]

Thanks Jim! These provided by Google:

http://geneablogie.b...car-driver.html

http://traditionofex...-wendell-scott/

http://insiderracing.../RG/041808.html

Also, off topic but interesting:

The "Wiggins Special", entered each year in the Indy 500

http://www.evansvill...yard/babs07.htm

Henry

[fines]

Originally posted by HistoricMustang
Also, off topic but interesting:

The "Wiggins Special", entered each year in the Indy 500

http://www.evansvill...yard/babs07.htm

Henry

Oh, really?

Smart boy, this Mr. Wiggins, if he tried to enter a single-seater at Indy in the thirties - repeatedly!

This article is so typically rubbish, one shouldn't even comment on it, but the following sentence caught my eye:

The American Automobile Association, enforcing unwritten segregation rules, rejected his application.

You can read that every so often, like "AAA didn't allow Negro drivers to compete" etc. - It's all nonsense. Joie Ray competed regularly with AAA, as did Rajo Jack. Both didn't "cut the mustard", and hence went running for the independent organisations, the "feeder series" or the "outlaws". Like millions of caucasians, too. Each and everyone had their excuse for not not making it, and it has become popular amongst "Afro-Americans" to blame segregation. It's so much easier than to admit one's shortcomings...

BTW, that picture of the "Wiggins Special", supposedly showing Charlie Wiggins in his own racer in Indiana in the late twenties/early thirties, is in reality Rajo Jack in California late forties - "hey, what does it matter, 'them black guys all look the same anyhow!"

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by HistoricMustang
Thanks Jim! These provided by Google:

http://geneablogie.b...car-driver.html

http://traditionofex...-wendell-scott/

http://insiderracing.../RG/041808.html

Thanks Henry. I noticed those (the second and third are the same column). It's rather obvious the column was written upon discovery of the first site.

I originally ran across this in 1990, when a long time racing promoter mentioned it in passing in a reminiscing column in a Western racing paper. Considering Joie Ray was acknowledged at the time as the "first" African-American driver, I filed it away as "second", relegating it to an interesting early driver (as I recall, no mention was made of the driver's name). This was pre-internet days and before I'd seen Fielden's book. When I saw Fielden's book, I honed in on the Bay Meadows races and noted Bowie as likely the driver referred to in the column.

Years go by and I search using the internet. When I was searching, I was going by the Eliso Bowie listed in Greg Fielden's book and replicated on the Racing-Reference.info website. I quickly realized this first name must be in error. Despite trying every permutation I could come up with, no luck. I even searched the Social Security Death Index for the man, but at the time I was doing so...he was still alive.

During the interim, it comes to light that claims of Joie Ray being the first African-American driver to compete in NASCAR's top series were incorrect. As noted elsewhere, that "Joie Ray" was white. This shifted the "first" to Charlie Scott, who drove in the 1956 Daytona beach race. I realized that Bowie would pre-date this, hence my quote excerpted from 2006.

I knew it would come down to whether there was any mention in the San Mateo Times, but unfortunately, I had no access to the newspaper. Without that mention, it would likely have been lost to history.

[HDonaldCapps]

Originally posted by fines
Oh, really?

Smart boy, this Mr. Wiggins, if he tried to enter a single-seater at Indy in the thirties - repeatedly!

This article is so typically rubbish, one shouldn't even comment on it, but the following sentence caught my eye:

The American Automobile Association, enforcing unwritten segregation rules, rejected his application.

You can read that every so often, like "AAA didn't allow Negro drivers to compete" etc. - It's all nonsense. Joie Ray competed regularly with AAA, as did Rajo Jack. Both didn't "cut the mustard", and hence went running for the independent organisations, the "feeder series" or the "outlaws". Like millions of caucasians, too. Each and everyone had their excuse for not not making it, and it has become popular amongst "Afro-Americans" to blame segregation. It's so much easier than to admit one's shortcomings...

BTW, that picture of the "Wiggins Special", supposedly showing Charlie Wiggins in his own racer in Indiana in the late twenties/early thirties, is in reality Rajo Jack in California late forties - "hey, what does it matter, 'them black guys all look the same anyhow!"

Michael,

Sometimes you completely me amaze with your knowledge and in-sight. However, this is not one of those times.

Don

[Vitesse2]

I'm sure you're correct regarding the picture, Michael. But like Don, I'm not sure about the rest of your post. Have you read For Gold and Glory? AFAIK it's the only book about Wiggins and there is precious little else on inter-war Afro-American drivers. The website linked from my post is also very informative.

Sorry for hijacking your thread, Jim .....

[fines]

Originally posted by HDonaldCapps


Michael,

Sometimes you completely me amaze with your knowledge and in-sight. However, this is not one of those times.

Don

Now YOU of all people tell me the Charlie Wiggins story is an example of well researched history!!!

Colonel, you have retained the ability to TRUELY amaze me!

[fines]

Originally posted by Vitesse2
I'm sure you're correct regarding the picture, Michael. But like Don, I'm not sure about the rest of your post. Have you read For Gold and Glory? AFAIK it's the only book about Wiggins and there is precious little else on inter-war Afro-American drivers. The website linked from my post is also very informative.

Sorry for hijacking your thread, Jim .....

Yes, sorry Jim, but this needs a bit of ink, so to speak.

Richard,

I have to admit that I have never read the book directly, but was pretty much aware of its contents, and some of its claims for a few years already. Since I began my recent research of US Big Car racing, I have occasionally thought about that story as far I was aware of it, and to be perfectly honest, the more I got to know about the subject in general, the less I felt inclined to read the book. Why? Because nothing of what I thought I "knew" of and about Charlie Wiggins really seemed to make much sense.

Now there may be several reasons to it, and I don't for a minute want to claim I know them all perfectly well, but you get that sort of "gut feeling" every now and then, and I'm rarely misled by it. But, as you probably know me by now well enough, I also never can resist the temptation to get to the bottom of things, and so, just as I was about to shut the computer down and put in my "Cat on the hot tin roof" DVD to spend the evening remembering a great racer, I was defeated by temptation again, and started to nose around.

The Wiggins book is available as a "look inside" book at Amazon, and if you know how to trick these things you can read books almost cover to cover, if only fragmented and not in order. I spent some time rummaging through the book, and I saw my worst fears confirmed: it is rubbish, plain and simple. Not quite as bad as the article that sparked the post you all get so hot about, but not much better.

I also spent a bit of time at NewspaperArchive, trying to find a trace of Charlie Wiggins, the Colored Speedway Association or the Gold and Glory Sweepstakes, but so far I haven't had much luck. None of the threesome appear to have been particularly popular during their time, but this is empahtically not the final word. A couple of hours can't do the subject justice, I know...

What I did find was an article about the Illionois State Fair races at Springfield (IL) in 1925. Yes, exactly, that famous race that would eventually have names like Wilbur Shaw, Mauri Rose, Rex Mays, A. J. Foyt and Mario Andretti in the list of its winners. But not in 1925, when it was a more sedate affair, but still one of the more prestigious independent events of the Midwest. In the list of less than two dozen starters were future Indy 500 starters Howdy Wilcox, Dutch Baumann, Leslie Allen and Benny Shoaff, as well as several very well known names in dirt track racing those days: Ralph Ormsby, Orville Zook, D. D. Morris, Glenn Hiett etc... and Charlie Wiggins in his Wiggins Special. Not a AAA event, but the next best thing to the real McCoy, as witnessed by several high profile car owners, including Louis & Arthur Chevrolet!

I am under no illusion that racial conflicts played a big part in EVERY aspect of US life back in the twenties, but there simply was no segregation in autoracing, period. It's all bull.

[HDonaldCapps]

Originally posted by fines
Yes, I am under no illusion that racial conflicts played a big part in EVERY aspect of US life back in the twenties, but there simply was no segregation in autoracing, period. It's all bull.

Michael,

You have no clue what you are talking about when you write a statement such as that. You might think that you do, but, sorry, but you are flat out mistaken -- to say nothing of being wrong. It was there and it was real. Perhaps not to the extent in other areas of society -- which is not saying much, but it was definitely there.

It was not bull.

It was real.

There are times when your god-like certainly and your utter conviction of the truth of your pronouncements amuse me.

Again, this is not one of those times.

[fines]

Well, I guess people like Charlie Wiggins, Joie Ray and Rajo Jack simply used "white" make-up, then?

[exits stage left, bored stiff]

[HDonaldCapps]

Originally posted by fines
Well, I guess people like Charlie Wiggins, Joie Ray and Rajo Jack simply used "white" make-up, then?

[exits stage left, bored stiff]

Michael, you simply don't get it. Go ahead and pout and make your usual snide, snippy little remarks that you love to dole out when someone challenges your assumptions. Try to to get your head out of the clouds -- I assume and hope that is where it is, and actually take a second from your effort to show us just how much smarter and superior you are as well as what ignorant, know-nothing beings we are to you, and consider what Jim is trying to bring up for discussion.

That Rajo Jack could race in a certain part of the country and that Charlie Wiggins and others were allowed to race in segregated racing series is a very thin thread upon which to make the statement you made.

The United States is a very large country, with marked differences in social mores from one region to another as well as from one community to another, especially until relatively recent years. During the period from around the turn of the century until into the Sixties, racism was a very serious problem nationwide. In some parts of the US, not just the South, but the Midwest as well, segregation and "Jim Crow" laws were a way of life. The "Great Migration" that began in the years following the Great War only fanned the already existing flames of racism that existed in the Midwest. Keep in mind that the KKK dominated Indiana politics during the early Twenties. Even after the Klan was deposed, there was little change in the attitudes of many Midwesterners regarding race.

Bigotry, was a reality of life for Black Americans, as unpleasant and shameful as that is to admit. Otherwise pleasant and wonderful people tended to draw a line when it came to race. There were , thank goodness, people who did not listen to the lesser angels of our nature and whose efforts to make the ideals of America something other than hollow, meaningless words. It took a longer time for the tide to turn. We still have bigots in our midst who continue to spew the sort of filth that is shameful and utterly vile.

Sports, with the rare exceptions, were just as segregated as any other part of American life. Much of it was de facto as well as statutory, the former being just as harmful. Again, thank goodness that some men and women of character had the courage to rise above such nonsense and practice the ideals not just mouth them. This meant that in various places there were opportunities for Blacks to do things that were denied them elsewhere. Alas and lack, this tended to be the exception and not the rule. And motor racing was just as much a part of the segregated world as any other sport, particularly in the Midwest, South, and Southwest.

I could go on, recommending a reading list, brushing off my lecture notes, providing a series of lectures on this.....

[fines]

Well, perhaps my posts late last night weren't particularly well expressed, writing as I was "under the influence" of half a bottle of red wine [2006 Blauer Zweigelt ], so I might as well try to rephrase with a sober mind:

I am under no illusion that racial conflicts played a big part in EVERY aspect of US life back in the twenties, but there simply was no segregation in autoracing, period. It's all bullshit, horse manure, elephant droppings or whatever - that's "irrelephant" as Chico Marx would put it.

Let's try to clear the semantics here, first: "segregation in autoracing" as I understand it to be relevant in the context of this issue, and in the way the word was used in the Wiggins book and the linked article is not about the difficulty for Afro-Americans (or other ethnical minorities) to compete at the higher echelons of autoracing (including, and most importantly, Indy), but the supposed impossibility! The former I duly acknowledged for everyone to see, and we don't need to discuss it, but the latter is stark nonsense!!!!

Examples for Afro-Americans at Indy are difficult, perhaps impossible to find for the period, but so are Asian-Americans and other minorities to this day - are we to assume there is still segregation in racing??? And what about John Boling (driver) and Clifton Richards (owner), Native-Americans who competed uninhibited at Indy and throughout the country in the late teens/early twenties? Did they "forget" to segregate them???

Apropos "they" - who is that? Everybody is being careful to avoid being clear about that, which is oh so typical! Reading in the Wiggins book it is full of unclear accusations, quotes out of context from "names" to enhance the story and more stuff like it, absolute "phoney baloney"! It all reads like one big hoax story, although I'm sure there is some "truth" in it, but I will get to that later.

So, what do we know about Afro-Americans in open-wheel racing? Joie Ray competed in AAA events in the fifties, possibly late forties already. I have found him in the entry list for a 1950 race in Iowa, and the results of a 1954 race in Indiana. If you want, I can dig up the sources again and reproduce them here, no problem, it will just take some time. That's post-WW2 done with, then.

Rajo Jack competed in CARA (California Auto Racing Assoc.) and ARA (American Racing Association) all through the thirties and forties, that's literally one step below AAA and I have numerous entries and results for him. I thought I also had him in outright AAA competition, but can't find that right now, perhaps he didn't quite make it, and it doesn't really matter - AAA didn't have much of a presence in California during most of his career, and he never raced anywhere else. That's the thirties done with, too.

And now I find this:



"C. Wiggins, Wiggins Special, Indianapolis" - we don't need to discuss who this fella is, right? Bang in the midst of a field of "name drivers", in the entry list for a race at the Illinois State Fair in 1925! That's also "one step below AAA/Indy", and for Dutch Baumann it would take less than two years to get there. Easy-peasy if you are really good, and just like today you spot a talent in Formula 2 or whatever they call it these days, and next thing you know he drives Grands Prix.

And now you go through that list of drivers, and see some names like Harry Nichols, Charlie Wiggins, Ralph Ormsby, Frank Schenk, Glenn Hiett or Orville Zook who all didn't make it to Indy, and you wonder why. Surely some of these drivers, especially Ormsby and Hiett, had inifinitely better records in racing than Wiggins, yet I have seen photographs of them and they weren't black! Mud spattered, yes, but definitely not black.

So, how come they never made it to Indy? Green hair, perhaps? Or, body odor? That's it, the unwritten laws of BODY ODOR prevented them from competing at Indy! Segregation!!! Let's write a book about how body odor prevented the sure-fire Indy careers of Ralph Ormsby and Glenn Hiett, and how bad the world was back then in the dark ages to prevent some poor race drivers from becoming the rightful stars they were always meant to be. Boo!

That's the Charlie Wiggins story, in a nutshell. It even gets really hilarious when it comes to his supposed role in the 1934 Indy win of Bill Cummings, when the Bullshit-O-Meter scores sky-high. "Hey, let's take this Cummings guy, he's dead for seventy years already, nobody will be able to prove us wrong!"

So, what remains after careful deduction of the superinflated claims, badly researched "facts" and unrelated quotes? The story of the CSA, the Colored Speedway Association, which I believe to be pretty much authentic, basically. The one thing that's not authentic is the background as to why it was established: not segregation, but economic thinking!

Back in the days, there were dozens of "sanctioning bodies" like the CSA, if probably none with that ethnical background. Many drivers and car owners that didn't quite make it to the top would band together and, with the help of local promoters, form their own little "circuit" of races. Some had their own rules, too, like the "8 valve circuit" that was quite popular in the Ohio/Indiana region in the late twenties: it outlawed expensive 16-valve engines, thus making for some good and cheap racing. Nothing to do with segregation, of course...

Now you take guys like this Rucker (? - I may have forgotten his exact name), who saw an excellent business opportunity in organising races only for black drivers, because he could attract a special audience for these races, and generate good purses. Drivers like Wiggins surely made more money driving at the sharp end of CSA events than trying to battle for outright honours in "open events". Yes, "open" like in: no restrictions on cars, engines, owners and drivers, and no segregation! A fascinating story for sure, but only for anoraks like you and me - sells a couple of thousands of copies, max. "Better put in some real HUMAN INTEREST, like segregation, and we'll make the bestseller lists - and a movie to boot!"

Originally posted by HDonaldCapps
Michael, you simply don't get it. Go ahead and pout and make your usual snide, snippy little remarks that you love to dole out when someone challenges your assumptions. Try to to get your head out of the clouds -- I assume and hope that is where it is, and actually take a second from your effort to show us just how much smarter and superior you are as well as what ignorant, know-nothing beings we are to you, and consider what Jim is trying to bring up for discussion.

And now you, Mr. Capps, take back your slurs and supercilious remarks - you may talk to your underlings at military as you see fit, but this is not "your turf", at least not any longer. If you have anything to say, say it in a civilised manner, and keep to the subject! We may have differences in opinion, but there's no use in getting personal. If you don't accept my assessment, here's the place to present your analysis, and we can discuss. As for above quote, I resent you talking to me in public like that, and I demand an apology!!

[Cris]

I am speechless.

[Hieronymus]

Originally posted by fines
Well, perhaps my posts late last night weren't particularly well expressed, writing as I was "under the influence" of half a bottle of red wine [2006 Blauer Zweigelt ], so I might as well try to rephrase with a sober mind:

Must be pretty potent stuff if one "get stoned" after half a bottle! In future we'll have to read between the lines, then, to decide if it is the real Michael speaking or the Blauer Zweigelt.

[HDonaldCapps]

Herr Ferner,

Nice try, but still short of the mark. You continue to demonstrate that while you may have information, you still lack knowledge and understanding.

Originally posted by fines
And now you, Mr. Capps, take back your slurs and supercilious remarks - you may talk to your underlings at military as you see fit, but this is not "your turf", at least not any longer. If you have anything to say, say it in a civilised manner, and keep to the subject! We may have differences in opinion, but there's no use in getting personal. If you don't accept my assessment, here's the place to present your analysis, and we can discuss. As for above quote, I resent you talking to me in public like that, and I demand an apology!!

Demand all you wish, but you can rest assured that you will never get one from me in this lifetime.

[fines]

And you continue to demonstrate that you lack knowledge, understanding and manners.

Still, I'll be waiting.

[Vitesse2]

Originally posted by fines

I am under no illusion that racial conflicts played a big part in EVERY aspect of US life back in the twenties, but there simply was no segregation in autoracing, period. It's all bull.

Okay, show me a picture of Indy taken in the 20s or 30s which features a naturally black face in a car, in the pits or Gasoline Alley.

Or perhaps there were no black mechanics who were good enough?

[fines]

Perhaps. But that would be a rather simplistic view. I think it all comes down to racing being a disctinctly "white" sport, in terms of social acceptance, especially the very early years, which probably has as much to do with money as anything else. Racing is quite simply expensive, to a tune that most African-Americans would probably not even have a chance to think about it before the Great War. Things were changing, slowly, in the twenties though.

But there's no doubt that a black man was facing a VERY STEEP UPHILL STRUGGLE to get anywhere in racing, even then! And that, of course, also includes mechanics!

[fines]

Just had a thought: do we know Eddie Rickenbacker's stance on segregation? His word was law at the IMS, and he had a lot of influence at AAA HQs in Washington - surely there must be something on record?

[Jim Thurman]

Sigh :

Richard, Michael, thank you both for your apologies for hijacking the thread.

It is a matter and subject well worth discussion, but I wish that portion of it could be separated out for another thread.

Perhaps semantics have played a role. Michael, is your main objection (or one of them), the writers' broad strokes portraying auto racing in general as being racist or "banning" colored drivers when, as you clearly point out, that African-American drivers (as well as Native-American) did compete, albeit usually in "outlaw" events?

Thereby also proving, in your opinion, that there was no formal ban?

Baseball never had a formal ban in writing, yet an unwritten agreement kept African-Americans segregated from organized baseball for nearly 50 years, primarily due to one very influential and racist player/manager.

And, as Don pointed to, the fact that Rajo Jack could race in another part of the country is hardly the same thing. The Pacific Coast of the U.S., while far from perfect, did have a somewhat better record as far as being progressive in that area. African-Americans were allowed on sports teams in high schools and colleges in Southern California before WWII. I recall an interview with a Negro (Baseball) League player who grew up in Southern California. He said when he got to the Midwest and East, he was shocked by the racism, as it was something he had only had one on field incident with in his time in Southern California, and even that he said he felt was more due to conditions than overt racism.

[Jim Thurman]

Originally posted by fines

Rajo Jack competed in CARA (California Auto Racing Assoc.) and ARA (American Racing Association) all through the thirties and forties, that's literally one step below AAA and I have numerous entries and results for him. I thought I also had him in outright AAA competition, but can't find that right now, perhaps he didn't quite make it, and it doesn't really matter - AAA didn't have much of a presence in California during most of his career, and he never raced anywhere else.

Michael, Rajo Jack did race outside of California. He made at least one swing through the Pacific Northwest, entered a race in British Columbia, Canada and made at least one appearance (if not more) in IMCA races in the Midwest.

[fines]

Jim,

perhaps it is an unfortunate discussion, but it is only slightly off topic, to the extent that it complements your original post, and if we manage to keep our posts on that general topic I still believe this can be a great thread. Thanks for helping to steer it back.

My original post was started by that website, and the incredulity about its content. Looking back, I realise I have used a word that could be construed as being offensive, but such is life. As for the content, I could laugh about the statement that Charlie Wiggins entered his car repeatedly at the Indy 500, when that car would only have been eligible before 1923, or after 1937 - contrasting to a supposed career span from 1924 to 1936! But what really made me mad was the contention that he would not even have been allowed to compete at Indy and with AAA in general, a statement I have heard before in connection with Rajo Jack. Which is, quite simply, an unsubstantiated claim, and there is absolutely nothing to support it.

As for Rajo Jack, he was a mildly successful racing driver in California in the thirties, and without much effort I can name a lot of his contemporaries with much better success who didn't make it to AAA and Indy (Wally Schock, Tex Peterson), or only after Rajo Jack had retired from racing (Freddie Agabashian, Hal Cole, Bayliss Levrett). That's my point: some people make a scapegoat out of the IMS and/or AAA to explain away something that needs no explanation. It's simply bad journalism, or bad historiography, and it needs to be pointed out!

I am well aware that California in particular was less racist than some other parts of America, and particularly Indiana in the twenties, but we're not talking local picket fences politics here, but a nationally prominent event, sanctioned by a national organisation based in Washington, DC - to suggest that they would close their eyes to, or even would be intimidated by KKK infested Hoosier county councils is a bit naive, don't you think? I am willing to be proved wrong, but it has top be something better than that - that's why I put the name Eddie Rickenbacker up for review: under no circumstances am I willing to believe that a ban on black drivers, formal or not, would have been possible if Rickenbacker was known in public to reject segregation. If, on the other hand, he was known or even only rumoured to support racist ideas, that would certainly be a reason to reconsider.

As for Charlie Wiggins and the book about him, as already pointed out I haven't read it so far, and after "investigating" the book and the subject over the last few days, I can savely say I am not going to read it anytime soon. Why? Because the author clearly didn't care about recording history, and didn't believe in researching a subject before writing about it. All he was interested in, it seems, was reaching a big audience, making a big impression - in other words, making big money. I'm not going to judge him for trying to put food on his table, but in these days of "fast food" and "fast information" I am simply trying to make a stance for thoroughness. Call me stubborn, call me old-fashioned, but I'm not going to sink without a trace!;)

Like Rajo Jack, Wiggins simply didn't make it to Indy, and like so many of his (white) contemporaries there must be a truck load of reasons for it. But segregation is not one of them, unless somebody can come up with proof instead of supposedly "unwritten laws". Perhaps he was bitter about that later in life, and like so many of his (white) contemporaries took to blaming circumstances, other people and who knows what. It's only natural. It didn't take me long to come up with a document showing that he did in fact compete at a reasonably high level of the sport, and with other (white) drivers who subsequently made it, unlike him.

There are more examples of that, like Doc White who is mentioned in the Johnny Gerber book - he doesn't appear in any of the results that Gerber compiled, meaning he was probably an also-ran (Gosh! I hope Bob Riebe doesn't spot this! ;)), living off the "crumbs" of the promoters. It's no surprise seeing him in the results of CSA races, like Wiggins he must have seen it like a heaven-sent opportunity. Make no mistake, they were all real enthusiasts, living for the sport, but racing IS expensive, and you gotta make some money if you wanna indulge in it!

And Jim, thanks for putting me right about Rajo Jack not competing outside of California! I simply lost my cool and posted without much thinking after reading the post by someone who seems to compensate for running out of talent by insults and abusive language. I am simply sick and tired of that. This is becoming a sad, sad pattern.

[fines]

It seems I'm headed for a big meal of humble pie, but while searching for something else I found this 2004 post:

Originally posted by Don Capps
Some odds and ends from the 1947 season:

Contest Board Bulletin, 28 January 1947

* The non-championship events run on dirt had the maximum displacement raised from 210-cubic inches to 220-cubic inches as the result of a poll and the resulting action of the Contest Board, effect in January 1947 and good until 31 December 1951.

(snip)

* The Contest Board removed the "color-line" to allow non-Caucasians to become active in the AAA as owners and and drivers

So, now it seems there were no unwritten laws, but actually written ones! Still, it doesn't explain Boling and Richards, nor does it make the nonsense in the "Gold & Glory" book more bearable. It would be interesting to find out more about this!

[fines]

Getting back to this controversial topic, I have been making mental notes about related "factoids" that came up in research ever since, and though I still can't come up with "beefy" evidence, some bits and pieces may help to get a clearer picture. To me it seems that, even though AAA apparently kept a formal ban against "non-Caucasians" until and including 1946, in "real life" a laissez-faire approach prevailed, quite the opposite to the "unwritten laws" in Baseball, mentioned by Jim! To wit:

- we have Native Americans like John Boling and C. L. Richards as AAA drivers and owners in the late teens and early twenties already, in addition to "Chief Wahoo" Joie Chitwood, who actually wasn't the Cherokee Indian he was billed as, but nonetheless a high-profile AAA driver, owner and even promoter, who the public conceived as a Native American, and some still do to this day.

- we have Takeo "Chickie" Hirashima of Japanese descent, who was a high-profile (riding) mechanic in the thirties, and even chief mechanic on the Indy 500 winning mount in 1946, although some sources list Eddie Offutt in this capacity - perhaps a "clandestine assignment", due to segregation? Also, we have Sey "Oolie" Sugi and Yam Oka as drivers in the thirties and forties, although it is not exactly clear whether they ran in AAA events, but in the case of the former at least that is more than likely: there is a picture of him in Jack Fox's "Illustrated History Of Sprint Car Racing" (p144), showing him in the "Tri-Flex Piston Ring Special", a car owned by long-time AAA driver and owner Guy Deulin, and amidst other AAA cars and drivers, photographed at Oakland it seems, a AAA track at the time.

- just the other day, I read the casual remark that Mel Leighton, a successful AAA car owner from 1948 onwards, and a driver before the war, was "a Negro". Like Rajo Jack, he appears to have raced mainly in California, and thus the likelihood of him competing in AAA events, even if permitted to do so, is not very high. So, the verdict's still out, the evidence not conclusive, as it's very much possible that the aforementioned laissez-faire approach perhaps still segregated Afro-Americans from other non-Caucasians!

Edited by fines, 24 May 2009 - 13:51.

[Flat Black 84]

Ray Harroun was known as "The Bedouin" and he really was of Middle East or Maghreb descent.

[Michael Ferner]

A surprise find!

The "Springfield Union/Springfield Republican" of Springfield (MA), Sunday, September 22, 1935:

Yesterday victory finally crowned the efforts of John Figuredo, Cohasset Negro, who has been making almost annual bids for the New England Derby.

The "New England Derby" was an event for local drivers during the annual Eastern swing of the IMCA at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts, so the appearance of a "colored" driver in these races is not unusual. BUT: Johnny Figuerado (I believe that's the correct spelling) was not only one of the leading independent drivers in New England (winning the championship of the New England Big Car Racing Association in 1934, for example), but also a semi-regular AAA driver during the early part of the thirties! Originally from Rhode Island, it seems, he lived in Cohasset, a suburb of Boston at the time, and competed in AAA events at Brockton (1931, '32, '34 & '35) and South Attleboro (1933) in Massachusetts, as well as in Salem, New Hampshire (1932)!!

So, this appears to be proof of the laissez-faire approach mentioned in my last post! Figuerado was hardly good enough to make it to Indy, and perhaps the AAA diehards would have prevented his appearance in such a high-profile event in any case, but on a much lower level, at the county fairgrounds and small town dirt tracks, (almost) anything was possible. I would love to find out more about this man...

[Michael Ferner]

John Pryor, riding mechanic to Jack Forest (or: Forrest) when the latter had his fatal accident while practicing for the El Paso-to-Phoenix road race in 1913, was "colored", according to contemporary newspaper articles. He was, apparently, only lightly injured. This was a AAA event, but since the accident happened during (inofficial) practice, his appearance is non-conclusive as to the subject matter.

Edited by Michael Ferner, 28 July 2012 - 22:26.

[sramoa]

A surprise find!

The "Springfield Union/Springfield Republican" of Springfield (MA), Sunday, September 22, 1935:



The "New England Derby" was an event for local drivers during the annual Eastern swing of the IMCA at the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield, Massachusetts, so the appearance of a "colored" driver in these races is not unusual. BUT: Johnny Figuerado (I believe that's the correct spelling) was not only one of the leading independent drivers in New England (winning the championship of the New England Big Car Racing Association in 1934, for example), but also a semi-regular AAA driver during the early part of the thirties! Originally from Rhode Island, it seems, he lived in Cohasset, a suburb of Boston at the time, and competed in AAA events at Brockton (1931, '32, '34 & '35) and South Attleboro (1933) in Massachusetts, as well as in Salem, New Hampshire (1932)!!

So, this appears to be proof of the laissez-faire approach mentioned in my last post! Figuerado was hardly good enough to make it to Indy, and perhaps the AAA diehards would have prevented his appearance in such a high-profile event in any case, but on a much lower level, at the county fairgrounds and small town dirt tracks, (almost) anything was possible. I would love to find out more about this man...

I think John Figuerado(Figuerando,Figerado and others) was portugese descent.The last two hundred years lived in Cohasset area a portugese community.Figuerado a common portugese name and possible I have a photo for him and I think he was a caucasian.

Not afro-american story but about in racism.In Hungary was the first jews law(numerus calusus) in 1921.Jews people didn't activity in culture(sports) and other way(only under 10%),but the best GP driver László Hartmann was a Jew and wasn't problem for propaganda.He raced in latest 30s years in Germany,Italy and Hungary and here(in Hungary) was a hero.I think the politics not only black and white,bettera real gray or colorful...:S

[Jim Thurman]

Michael, wasn't this already answered?

Contest Board Bulletin, 28 January 1947

* The Contest Board removed the "color-line" to allow non-Caucasians to become active in the AAA as owners and and drivers

The important thing here is, when was the written law introduced by the AAA that was finally repealed on 28 January 1947? ...or was it unwritten as well? You can't cite early pre-WWI involvement as proof otherwise, as organized baseball allowed "blacks" in early years until deciding otherwise.

As far as some of the other examples you cite. Michael, sadly there were different levels of racism. That Asian, Hispanic or Native Americans were able to compete to a degree means nothing for Blacks. Asians, Hispanics and Native Americans were allowed to compete in baseball, and indeed, there were Hispanic and Native American players in organized baseball from early times. And citing Figuerado as an example is more likely an example of how extreme the term "black" or "negro" was applied at times in some quarters and some regions.

Just because there were some ridiculous claims in an article, doesn't mean there wasn't truth behind it or underneath it, even if the authors were clueless to those facts.

Mel Leighton was indeed black. He raced at Southern Ascot (as did Rajo Jack). Sey Sugi wound up in an internment camp during World War II

Edited by Jim Thurman, 02 August 2012 - 07:07.

[Michael Ferner]

I'm not trying to proof anything here. Yes, I was wrong with my earlier assessment, and I've already accepted "defeat" by citing that quote from the AAA Contest Board minutae myself - that's part and parcel of research, and I don't have a problem with that. It's just that this topic is still interesting, and this thread appears to be the right place to discuss it further (while acknowledging that it was "your" thread in the first place, and with due apologies for "hijacking"!).

I would believe that the ban on "colored" drivers was there from the beginning, so to speak, as I recall discussions about the heavyweight boxing champion (Jack Johnson, without checking) who was matched with Barney Oldfield in about 1910, a black man who got hold of a AAA licence by means of proxy, i.e. a white man took out the licence in lieu. The implication was that Johnson (?) should not have been allowed to register with the AAA in the first place.

My interest lies in the ways this ban was administered, or the lack of it. You are probably right, in that Negroes had a harder time with it than Asians, Hispanics or Native Americans. And, as Richard has pointed out, Figuerado was likely just a little bit "tanned", perhaps with some Arabian background - quite ironic, if you recall, how Rajo Jack was billed as a Portuguese Prince when racing with the IMCA!

It all harks back to the Charlie Wiggins controversy, of course, and while it's clear by now that Wiggins was very unlikely to be accepted into the AAA ranks during his time, I still think it's right and proper to point out that the way it was portrayed in the book was utter nonsense. People read the book and think it's the right thing to do to praise it, but fail to notice that it was done very badly. The author clearly didn't check what he was fed, and the result is a howler. If racism in motorsports is going to be dealt with, it should be done properly.

[Jim Thurman]

My interest lies in the ways this ban was administered, or the lack of it. You are probably right, in that Negroes had a harder time with it than Asians, Hispanics or Native Americans. And, as Richard has pointed out, Figuerado was likely just a little bit "tanned", perhaps with some Arabian background - quite ironic, if you recall, how Rajo Jack was billed as a Portuguese Prince when racing with the IMCA!

It all harks back to the Charlie Wiggins controversy, of course, and while it's clear by now that Wiggins was very unlikely to be accepted into the AAA ranks during his time, I still think it's right and proper to point out that the way it was portrayed in the book was utter nonsense. People read the book and think it's the right thing to do to praise it, but fail to notice that it was done very badly. The author clearly didn't check what he was fed, and the result is a howler. If racism in motorsports is going to be dealt with, it should be done properly.

Yes, a real irony with Rajo Jack being portrayed as "Portugese". In baseball, teams occasionally made attempts at passing off "colored" players in much the same manner. I hate to keep citing ball sport examples, but they are good comparisons.

I too feel it's a fascinating subject. Baseball apparently literally had no formal, written rule. Which is interesting since there is a formal repeal. I wonder if that happened with the AAA as well.

[Michael Ferner]

Contest Board Bulletin, 28 January 1947

* The Contest Board removed the "color-line" to allow non-Caucasians to become active in the AAA as owners and and drivers

Reference to this in a "colored" newspaper, The Indianapolis Recorder, date of Oct. 25, 1947, page 11:

Vets of Dirt Tracks
Eye Big Motor Race

Two local men associated with auto-racing declared this week that they are going to take advantage of the American Automobile Association's announced lack of a color bar, possibly even leading to participation in the Memorial Day 500-mile classic at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
"Red" Oliver and Charles Wiggins, both of whom are members of the Midwest Auto Racing Associaiton [sic!] and well-known in dirt-track racing circles, said they intend to register with the AAA, with an eye on the 1949 Speedway race. Oliver is a veteran driver, while Wiggins, who lost a leg in 1936, owns a car but no longer drives.
W. Blaine Patton in last week's Recorder quoted Col. Arthur W. Harrington, AAA contest board president, as saying there is no bar against contestants by reason of race.
Dayton Officials Confirm
Similar Information was given to Oliver and Wiggins by AAA officials in Dayton recently, they revealed.
The two men had gone to Dayton to enter Wiggins' car in a race at the Dayton Speedway. With them was "Dynamite" Stewart, driver of the car.
Officials refused to let the Indianapolis men enter the race, because they were not registered with the AAA. The officials said, however, that the men could register and participate in 3-A dirt-track races next summer. That would enable them to qualify for the Memorial Day race of 1949.

[Michael Ferner]

And the earlier articel refered to, ibid. Oct. 18, 1947, page 11:

No Rule Bans Negro Speedway Drivers
No AAA Ban
Qualified Drivers May
Try for Gold, Fame
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following article, the current weekly release of the "Patton News Service'' was written by W. Blaine Patton. Mr. Patton was formerly Sports Editor of the Indianapolis Star one of the leading daily papers of the midwest. He was nationally known as a sportswriter for more than two decades, and his column "If-So-Why?" which he continues to write was nationally known to sports fans.
By W. BLAINE PATTON
The greatest automobile race in the world is the annual 500-mile international gasoline classic derby held on May 30 each year at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A total of 31 of these historical events has been held on the famous 2½-mile brick and asphalt course. Millions of dollars have been awarded to the successful drivers for performances in the careening steel chariots of speed. A Negro never has shared in this legacy of gold. Now we find that there is a grand opening for him in this rich field.
About a decade ago, sprint races were promoted exclusively for Negro drivers and they put on some mighty interesting shows. Recently none of these have been held. We have seen many an interesting race of the colored pilots at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and recall that one of the drivers from Chicago who was called "Black DePalma" was just about as good as any we have seen at the Speedway events.
Recently we made a request to Albert Bloemker. the genial press representative of the Speedway staff, asking him to find out if Negro race drivers were outlawed by the American Automobile Association. After a careful survey and investigation he reported that there was no rule against the race. That is as it should be. Baseball for years did not have any such rule but a "gentleman's (?) agreement" kept the colored stars from performing until this year when Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn firstsacker, broke into the picture with such a creditable showing both as a player and a gentleman.
* * *
In the opinion of the writer there is a great prospect ahead of young Negro speed merchants and if they have ability in this line there is nothing in their way. Incidentally, many of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway pilots who have shared in the prize money in the past are getting along in years. There is a wide opportunity in this field.
* * *
In an interview with Col. Arthur W. Harrington, president of the Contest Board of the American Automobile association which sanctions the Indianapolis 500-miler each year, he said:
"There has never been any time that the A.A.A has ever barred any contestant by reason of race, creed or for any other cause.
"It has always been possible for anyone of the Negro race to secure an A.A.A. license if he was capable of complying with the rules and requirements which all applicants are subject to."
The above information, written exclusively in this column, should be of extreme interest to young Negroes who have ambitions in this hazardous but profitable sport.

[Michael Ferner]

I too feel it's a fascinating subject. Baseball apparently literally had no formal, written rule. Which is interesting since there is a formal repeal. I wonder if that happened with the AAA as well.

It seems, Jim, you hit the nail squarely on its head!

[Michael Ferner]

I would love to find out more about this man...

Here's a picture, for starters.

Source: The Boston Herald, Sunday, July 1, 1934

Edited by Michael Ferner, 10 February 2013 - 17:30.

[Jim Thurman]

It seems, Jim, you hit the nail squarely on its head!

 

More than four years later, but I turned up something of interest on this. An item appeared in the Los Angeles Sentinel, March 22, 1951: "Bans on Negro Race Drivers Ends." The article is on the CSRA voting at a Dayton, Ohio meeting to allow "negro drivers and owners" to compete.  The Sentinel is a newspaper that has long served the African-American community in Los Angeles. 

[nexfast]

Here's a picture, for starters.

Source: The Boston Herald, Sunday, July 1, 1934

 

I know this is an old post and you might have meanwhile  got some more information about him but If he was really of Portuguese ascent his original name had to be Figueiredo which pronounced by an american is indeed not too distant to the Figuerado of the caption. This might help with genealogy research and the kind.

[D-Type]

Could the Portuguese name mean that Figuerado/Figueredo had a Brazilian connection?  And far more slaves from Africa ended up in Brazil than ended up in the USA

[nexfast]

Could be. But more likely Portuguese from the Faial island of Azores who start migrating to Cohasset in mid 19th century.

 

Actually if you see here

 

https://archive.org/...00dave_djvu.txt

 

and scroll alphabetically you'll find a John Charles FIgueiredo (see correct spelling) born in 1903. Could it be Michael's Johnny Figuerado?