Even The Klan Couldn't Stop Black Racing In Indiana
In the 1920s, racial segregation in sports was a political issue of national importance. Racing was no different. Black drivers were banned from competing in the Indianapolis 500. The American Automobile Association, the event’s then-sanctioning body, ardently refused to grant racing licenses to Black drivers. As a result, Indianapolis’ Black community decided to organize a race of its own: The Gold and Glory Sweepstakes.
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The Colored Speedway Association was founded in the early 1920s by William Rucker and other local businessmen. The group organized a marquee 100-mile race at the Indiana State Fairgrounds’ mile-long dirt oval, first held on August 2, 1924. According to PBS, the event’s evocative name was derived from an article written by Frank A. Young, the Chicago Defender’s sports editor:
“This auto race will be recognized throughout the length and breadth of the land as the single greatest sports event to be staged annually by colored people. Soon, chocolate jockeys will mount their gas-snorting, rubber-shod Speedway monsters as they race at death-defying speeds. The largest purses will be posted here, and the greatest array of driving talent will be in attendance in hopes of winning gold for themselves and glory for their Race.”
The idea of a racing series for Black drivers didn’t emerge from a vacuum. The Negro Leagues in professional baseball were starting to flourish in cities across the Northeast and Midwest truly. Indiana’s state capital even had its own team, the Indianapolis ABCs. Similarly, the CSA’s drivers hoped to prove that they were worthy of a chance to compete in the Indy 500.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s ban on Black competitors is only a glimpse of how discriminatory society was in 1920s Indiana. The iconic track had segregated seating, as segregation became enforced at entertainment venues across the state. The Ku Klux Klan was the most powerful political organization in Indiana with 250,000 paying members, including half of the Indiana General Assembly. It was essentially impossible to get elected to public office in Indianapolis without the KKK’s endorsement.
Charlie Wiggins was the biggest star created by the Gold and Glory Sweepstakes. He first won the event in 1926 by two entire laps in a car he built himself, the Wiggins Special. Wiggins would win the 100-mile classic three more times in 1931, 1932 and 1933.
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He was referred to as “the Negro Speed King” for his prolific record as a driver, but he was an even more capable mechanic. Bill Cummings hired Wiggins to work on his team during his 1934 Indy 500-winning effort and snuck the Black champion into the Speedway as a janitor.
Wiggins’ racing career and the Gold and Glory Sweepstakes would come to an end after the 1936 edition. On the second lap, there was a 13-car pile-up in Turn 4. Wiggins was pinned under his own car in the wreck. While he survived life-threatening injuries, his right leg had to be amputated. The Colored Speedway Association was already struggling to support itself financially and collapsed with the loss of its biggest draw.
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White sentiment on racial segregation in sports shifted over the following decade. Jackie Robinson made his first start with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947, breaking baseball’s color barrier. That same year, Joie Ray became the first Black driver granted a racing license by the AAA. Ray would never attempt to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. It would take 44 years for that to happen. Willy T. Ribbs became the first Black driver to qualify for the Indy 500 in 1991.
