Willy T. Ribbs, the first African-American race car driver to compete at the Indy 500, is returning to the Brickyard this year for the 100th running of the Memorial Day classic after a two-decade absence.
This time, though, Ribbs will be a team co-owner, working with Starting Grid, Inc.'s Chris Miles to field driver Chase Austin in the Firestone Indy Lights Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) on May 27. Assuming he qualifies for the race, the 21-year-old Austin will be the third African-American racer to compete at IMS.
The Firestone Indy Lights is the last rung up the American professional opebn-wheel racing ladder before the IZOD Indycar Series, which includes the storied Indy 500. The 2011 Indy 500 will be the centennial of the race, which was first run in 1911 and was won by Ray Harroun driving a Marmon Wasp that featured something that was rare in that era but which would become standard equipment on all race and street cars, a rear-view mirror.
After a meteoric rise through the Trans-Am road racing series, Ribbs raced at Indy driving for a team fielded by comedian Bill Cosby. Ribbs qualified for the 500 in 91 but mechanical problems took him out before the checkered flag. He competed again in 1993 and 1994.
I was covering motorsports for The Washington Times when Ribbs was on his way up in the 1980s and was among the first mainstream media writers to interview Ribbs and publish a feature profile of him. I admired his immense talent, but feared that his, shall we say, over-eagerness on and off the track would be his undoing.
That was indeed a big factor in Ribbs' failure to make a more memorable mark in motorsports, but he was also plagued by bad luck on and off the track, jealousies from other drivers, and the great immeasurable, the subtle racism that was still evident in motorsports in that era.
Despite these and other obstacles, Ribbs did compile an enviable record that includes:
* Being the first African-American to compete in the Indy 500.
* Winner of the Formula Ford Dunlop championship series in Europe (traditionally a stepping stone to Formula One).
* Being the first American driver of African-American ethnicity to test for a Formula One team.
* Being the first African-American driver to win races in both the SCCA's Trans-Am and IMSA GTO pro sedan road racing series. Among the teams he drove for in those series were those owned by Dan Gurney and Jack Rousch.
If you have the impression that I still admire Ribbs a great deal, you are absolutely right, and I hope that he and his new partners in speed achieve great success. Don't miss the accompanying video of the news conference announcing the new team.
For more on the new Ribbs effort, check out this report from Indycar.com.
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