Black American Racers Association
Encyclopedia
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
by Leonard W. Miller
Leonard W. Miller
Leonard W. Miller is one of two black motor racing pioneers living in the United States.- Early life :Miller was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in its suburbs. His lifelong love of automobiles began at age five in 1939, and he began secretly tinkering with his family’s 1937 Ford in...
, Ron Hines
Ron Hines
Ron Hines was the first black Ivy League-educated auto racing engineer on America’s road racing circuits. He was an engineer for Black American Racers, Inc. , the first black auto racing team to attain national sponsorship in America, in the 1970s.-Early years:Ron Hines was raised in New...
, Eugene Gadson, and Charles Singleton. BARA was formed to give recognition to black racing drivers, crews, mechanics, car owners, and other members of the auto racing
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
community and corporations that help promote black racing development. BARA ceased operations in 1978.
Objectives
BARA's short-term goals were to publicize to the American public the all but forgotten achievements of blacks in racing, to interest minority youth in racing-oriented careers, and to increase black spectator interest in motor sports.Long-term goals included educating BARA’s membership in building successful racing teams, reducing sponsorship inequities facing black racers and teams, and supporting the continuation and growth of racing in general.
Membership and programs
In 1974, BARA’s regular membership cost $10, and a lifetime membership was $100. Both levels received decals, patches, and newsletters. The most distinctive benefit of BARA membership was a membership card honored for discounts by speed shops and auto stores throughout the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Those noted in the association's yearbook included Hollywood Sam’s in Detroit and Trio Auto Supply in Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
.
Conventions, award recipients and sponsors
In BARA’s five years in existence, its membership grew to nearly 5000 persons, including several car clubs. Each year BARA sponsored a dinner dance honoring black racing’s most accomplished individuals. Sumner "Red" Oliver, a black racing pioneer from IndianapolisIndianapolis
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
, was honored at BARA’s first convention in Trenton, New Jersey in 1974, for his success as a driver from the 1920s through the 1950s and as a mechanic on the United States Auto Club (USAC) championship circuit. In the 1970s, Oliver was a crew member on the Patrick Petroleum-Wally Dallenbach
Wally Dallenbach, Sr.
Wally Dallenbach, Sr. is a former long-time open-wheeled race car driver in CART from East Brunswick Township, New Jersey. He drove in 180 Indy Car races between 1965 and 1979, winning five times. He is the father of NASCAR driver and commentator, Wally Dallenbach, Jr.-Biography:Dallenbach nearly...
Indy car team. Corporate recognition at the 1974 convention included the BARA-Schaefer Brewing Company
Schaefer Beer
Schaefer Beer is a brand of American beer. Schaefer Beer was first produced in 1842 by the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company. The name "Schaefer" is derived from the last name of founding brothers Frederick and Maximiliam Schaefer....
Award to Stock Car Racing magazine for its coverage of blacks in racing in 1973, and to Champion Spark Plug Company
Champion (spark plug)
Champion is an American brand of spark plugs.Originally Champion was a Fortune 500 Company founded by Robert A. Stranahan and Frank D. Stranahan in 1908 in Boston, MA and then moved to Toledo, OH in 1910 to be close to the Willys-Overland Auto Company....
for its support of black racing development.
BARA’s 1975 convention in Arlington, Virginia honored Wendell Scott
Wendell Scott
Wendell Oliver Scott was an American stock car racing driver from Danville, Virginia. He is the only black driver to win a race in what is now the Sprint Cup Series. According to a 2008 biography of Scott, he broke the color barrier in Southern stock car racing on May 23, 1952, at the Danville...
, the well-known, longtime NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
competitor from Danville, Virginia
Danville, Virginia
Danville is an independent city in Virginia, United States, bounded by Pittsylvania County, Virginia and Caswell County, North Carolina. It was the last capital of the Confederate States of America. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Danville with Pittsylvania county for...
and BARA’s first vice-president. Scott was the only black to win a NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
race, in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, in 1961. The 1975 BARA–Schaefer Brewing Company awards were presented to the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Company
Brown & Williamson
Brown & Williamson was an American tobacco company and subsidiary of the giant British American Tobacco, that produced several popular cigarette brands. It became infamous as the focus of investigations for chemically enhancing the addictiveness of cigarettes...
for its historic pioneering sponsorship of Black American Racers Inc., a Formula Super Vee
Formula Super Vee
Formula Super Vee was a type of open-wheel motor created to act as a platform for the promotion of VW products, playing much the same role in the 1970s as formulae such as Formula Renault play today. The idea for Formula Super Vee is generally attributed to Josef Hopen, who worked as the Special...
Gold Cup and Formula 5000
Formula 5000
Formula 5000 was an open wheel, single seater auto-racing formula that ran in different series in various regions around the world from 1968 to 1982. It was originally intended as a low-cost series aimed at open-wheel racing cars that no longer fit into any particular formula...
road racing team with driver Benny Scott
Benny Scott
Benny Scott , was a second-generation African American race car driver, a rarity in the motor racing industry...
, and to Wendell Scott for his pioneering efforts in NASCAR. (The Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
refused to recognize Scott's accomplishments at the awards banquet.)
At BARA’s 1976 convention BARA’s first president, Malcolm Durham, was honored for his historic accomplishments in drag racing. Durham won many times on the National Hot Rod Association
National Hot Rod Association
The National Hot Rod Association is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and host events all over the United States and Canada...
(NHRA) circuit and was well known on the associated match racing circuit with his "Strip Blazer" Pro Stock drag cars. He was the successful owner-operator of Supercar Engineering, a racing car shop in Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville, Maryland
Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 17,557 at the 2000 census.- History :The city was named for its founder, Christopher Clark Hyatt. He purchased his first parcel of land in the area in March 1845...
, until his death in 2006. His sponsors included Pennzoil
Pennzoil
Pennzoil is an American oil company founded in Los Angeles, California in 1913. In 1955, it was acquired by Oil City, Pennsylvania company South Penn Oil, a former branch of Standard Oil. In 1963, South Penn Oil merged with Zapata Petroleum; the merged company took the Pennzoil name. During the...
, Cragar Industries, A&A Fiberglass, Inc., Accel Ignitions, Edelbrock Corporation, Champion Spark Plug Company, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, Hurst Performance
Hurst Performance
Hurst Performance, Inc. of Warminster Township, Pennsylvania, manufactured and marketed products for enhancing the performance of automobiles, most notably for muscle cars.-Products:...
, the motor oil company STP
STP (motor oil company)
STP is an American brand and trade name for the automotive additives, lubricants and performance division of Armored AutoGroup.Founded in 1953 in Saint Joseph, Missouri, the company’s name, STP, was derived from “Scientifically Treated Petroleum”...
, and Fram filters.
At the 1977 convention, BARA honored Tommy Thompson of Somerset, New Jersey
Somerset, New Jersey
Somerset is a census-designated place and unincorporated area located at the easternmost section within Franklin Township, in Somerset County, New Jersey. At the 2000 United States Census, the CDP population was 23,040...
, for his accomplishments as the driver and chief mechanic for the Black American Racers, Inc. (BAR) Formula Super Vee road racer. Thompson won the Northeast Sports Car Club of America
Sports Car Club of America
The Sports Car Club of America is a club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional racers.-History:...
(SCCA) Formula Super Vee Championship in 1977 - the first black to accomplish such a feat. At this convention - prior to his first professional fight - BARA awarded Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard
Sugar Ray Leonard is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles...
a lifetime membership for inspiring youth in the Baltimore area and around the country to achieve in sports. Tommy Thompson, who later died in a crash at a 1978 race in Trenton, was recognized with awards from STP, Trio Auto Supply of Trenton, and Detroit-based General Kinetics Cams.
Publications
BARA published a Black Racers Yearbook in 1974. It was an official annual publication of BARA and sold for one dollar. The publication had 32 pages and consisted of articles covering topics such as how to obtain sponsorship and challenges for black racers. It was the only yearbook the association published. This now rare publication covered black racing history from the 1930s to the early 1970s. Seven major corporations placed ads in the yearbook, and it sold thousands of copies in the United States.BARA also published a monthly newsletter, which highlighted accomplishments by blacks in all phases of auto racing around the United States.
Association race event
On March 10, 1974, at Madison Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, New JerseyEnglishtown, New Jersey
Englishtown is a borough in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 1,847....
, BARA sponsored Englishtown’s 1974 opening program, a Pro Stock Race featuring the United Soul Racing Team. This race included many of drag racing’s African American stars of the time, including Rufus "Brooklyn Heavy" Boyd, "Strip Blazer" Malcolm Durham, Bill "Tuff Rabbit" White, "Wicked" Will Smallwood, Sam Carroll, and Joe Fisher, driving Ronald Lyle’s Hemi Colt. Herb McCandless drove Brooklyn Heavy’s second car. More than 25,000 spectators were in attendance for this event.
Legacy
BARA’s first chairman, Leonard W. MillerLeonard W. Miller
Leonard W. Miller is one of two black motor racing pioneers living in the United States.- Early life :Miller was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in its suburbs. His lifelong love of automobiles began at age five in 1939, and he began secretly tinkering with his family’s 1937 Ford in...
, remains one of America’s most knowledgeable authorities on the history of blacks in motor racing. He has been owner and president of various winning teams in drag racing
Drag racing
Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....
, road racing
Road racing
Road racing is a general term for most forms of motor racing held on paved, purpose-built race tracks , as opposed to oval tracks and off-road racing...
, dirt track racing
Dirt track racing
Dirt track racing is a type of auto racing performed on oval tracks. It began in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 30s. Two different types of racecars predominated—open wheel racers in the Northeast and West and stock cars in the South...
, and oval track racing. He is the author of Silent Thunder: Breaking Through Cultural, Racial, and Class Barriers in Motorsports (2004), a chronicle of his life in auto racing.
Miller and Ron Hines, who was BARA’s first secretary, enter their classic cars and street rods at auto shows in the Northeast. They are both in contact with Eugene Gadson, who is a retired psychologist. Charles Singleton, a car collector, is assistant manager of a funeral home in New Jersey. Both Gadson and Singleton are dedicated NASCAR fans. They have attended NASCAR races since 1968, including the Daytona 500
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a -long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule....
.
External links
- Wendell Scott, Answers.com
- Elkhart Lake, 23 August 1975, OldRacingCars.com
- MoSport Park, 21 Sep 1975, OldRacingCars.com
- Black American Racers Association, MyF5000.com