INDIANAPOLIS — The tale of Charlie Wiggins, then known as “the Negro King of Speed,” goes something like this:
In the 1920s, Wiggins rose to prominence in Indianapolis as an expert mechanic and fearless driver. The auto garage owner built his own racing machines, which he called “Wiggins Specials,” and he dreamed of entering his cars in the Indianapolis 500.
But at the time, while Indianapolis was the Western Hemisphere’s epicenter of racing, it also was a hub of white supremacy. The Ku Klux Klan counted … More
Formula One driver Fernando Alonso knows his “career objectives are very ambitious.”
“I intend to win the Triple Crown of the greatest races: Monaco, Indy, and Le Mans,” the Spanish racing driver told the New York Times (paywall). Those are the biggest races in motorsport—the jewels of Formula One, IndyCar, and endurance racing, respectively. Only one driver in history, Graham Hill, has ever done it—and that was in 1972.
Alonso, who is regarded as … More
It wasn’t entirely without drama, but Fernando Alonso has likely exceeded all expectations leading up to his first Indianapolis 500 with the Spaniard qualifying fifth on Sunday for the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
The two-time Formula 1 champion has been on the provisional pole for a short time and believes he could have made a potential pole run if not for a turbo-booster issue … More
Everybody’s favorite redneck, Hubert Roland, takes us on a tour of the core of the Pastranaland fun: the pitbikes and RZRs. Every pitbike has a name, even the one Vanilla Ice rode when a neighbor kid took him out. And if you want a ride better than a roller coaster, let Hubert or Travis drive you around in a RZR. Maybe in the one Crum jumped over a house?