Credit where credit is due... I didn't know Dewey's story until this time last year when @Nacifan told me about the book... Thanks homie...
That’s very interesting and somewhat sad at the same time. Sad, in that I’d never heard of him until now. I’ll find that book and get a copy. Thanks for posting boss.
Rajo Jack's name and story has popped up several times over the years here. Most probably miss it because the info is buried in vintage racing threads. Here is a shot clipped from @cactus1 spring car build thread.
The book is a great read, I love old racing history so when I recently bought and read this book I was totally amazed to find out the ties he had to the Pacific Northwest ( Portland, Or). I have lived all of my life in the Vancouver, Washington area and had never heard of him before this! He was an amazing guy and certainly deserves more creadit than he has gotten in the past.
@saltracer219, loaned me the book a year ago, what a fascinating read, especially since he started out in nearby Portland, and I was familiar with many of the racer's names.
I think LOT of folks just overlook the vintage racing and banger threads. So much good info buried in some of those threads.
Fascinating story of a unique individual, who's skills and talents, should be more widely known! Thanks for posting this story!
I heard about Rajo back in the fifties from my uncle Louis Wilcox. Uncle Louis was an African-American stock car racer in Southwest Missouri. He talked about Rajo with pride. He saw him race in Cali and tried to get him to come to a big race event in Indy. I don't think Rajo ever made it to Indy? Back in da day there was an African-American racing circuit in the eastern part of the states. There's a book about it {For Gold & Glory by Todd Gould} It's about Charlie Wiggins, another early African-American racer.
Nice story,Ryan. Imagine what racing history might have been if all that talent could have raced together.
Incredible! Thank you for brining some attention to him and his story. I definitely need to read this book!
I'm wondering if this would be Rajo Jack in this photo. I'm referring to the man in the foreground perched on top of the modified roadster. This photo is on the rear cover of Albert Drake's book "Flatout". I have been always curious to know who this was as there couldn't have been that many African American racers on the dry lakes during this time period. I'm guessing this photo is prewar as the modified roadster looks to be running a Morrison side by side dual manifold as you can see the carbs peeking up through the hood side by side. The Morrison intakes were made pre 1940 and they are rarely ever seen on a car. There were only a few flathead intakes that were ever made in this configuration.
If memory serves me correct, Pappy Hough told me that there were places where Rajo was registered from another country to avoid issues. Yes Pappy said he was a great driver!
Yup, Native American was a good one! At some of our events Pappy would sit in my Push truck during an event and tell stories about days gone by. He was a wealth of first hand info on many drivers and mechanics. One of his drivers came in during a midget event and said the car was not handling properly. Pappy thought it was fine so he just de adjusted a few things and put them right back. Guess what the driver said it handled better after he came back in. So many talented drivers and mechanics and their stories we may never get to hear about.
The Jalopy Journal
