In its salad days, the 1950’s and 60’s, drag racers were mainly motivated by the pure desire to build and race their homemade creations. Most race organizers and officials were driven by an equally altruistic desire to present races in a safe, organized fashion. More often than not, racers and officials were dressed in all-white uniforms of white shirts or t-shirts and white painter’s trousers. Dean Moon’s famous Mooneyes dragster featured all-white clad crewmembers in 1961. So what started this kind of unexpected fad of white uniforms on teams working on Drag Racing cars that needed working on and tuning constantly to keep "The Edge"? In those early days the majority of the pits were DIRT not very conducive to keeping clean while working on well lubricated motor vehicle. So this is a short history lesson on how this fad came about back before the logo plastered multi-colored uniforms of teams today. Drivers and race mechanics – which were usually one-in-the-same in the early 60’s, wore whites at the track and in the shop. Here Huston Platt (“Dixie Twister” A/FX and Funny Cars) shown in center, and Dyno Don Nicholson (right) share trophy after win in “Lil General” ’62 Chevy 409. This all-white look evolved from the desire to elevate drag racing’s image to a higher plane and a more acceptable public persona. It was all meant to counter drag racing’s then unsavory image of greasy, criminally motivated hot rod punks. Although this now sounds laughable, half a century ago a major crusade was launched to scrub the image of an earlier generation of hot rodders. The early days of drag racing and its hot rodder participants were often tagged with a severely negative image. Mr. and Mrs. Mainstream America viewed hot rodders as bad boys with zero redeeming qualities, unsavory characters all. The fact was that in the late 50’s and early to mid 60’s racers held jobs and spent their evenings in the garage, wrenching their cars. In spite of their bad-boy image, most drag racers were just young men with a desire to learn how cars, engines and racing worked. Many were members of “The Greatest Generation”, not long out of the military, eager to utilize the training and mechanical skills they acquired while in uniform. Aggressively loud, rag-tag hot rods and frequent drag racing on city and suburban streets enhanced this negative image. To hot rodders, open-pipes engine noise was music. To non-believers it was pure aggravation. Typical 50’s-60’s airfield drag strip scene with Olds powered dragster and crew dressed in all-whites. Track officials in background are similarly clad. Obviously homebuilt dragster sports Moon discs and fuel tank and motorcycle front wheels. In early days hot rodders were often attired in Levi’s jeans and black leather motorcycle jackets. Denim jeans and leather jackets were anti-socially unfashionable, suitable only for roughneck factory workers and juvenile delinquents. Many schools forbid students from wearing them to classes or school functions, and never, ever worn to church! Many municipalities reacted by making hot rodders unwelcome. Those ensnared faced stiff fines, police arrest, harassment and even confiscation of their cars, all aimed at stifling the hot rod craze. Local elected officials often pressured the local press to back their purge of these undesirables. Into this sea of stereotypes and bad-press sailed Robert E. “Pete” Petersen and Wally Parks, a pair of WW-II veterans and themselves hot rodders. Working together, they published a new magazine that focused on hot rods and the hot rodding pastime. It was called Hot Rod Magazine, first appearing in 1948. In the early years it was sold out of the trunks of their cars, at car club gatherings and drag strips in Southern California. Although their distribution methods were crude, there were no other options. Magazine distributors and news dealers wanted no part of a magazine that embraced and glorified punks with loud mufflers. Not so with hot rodders. Within a year Hot Rod had thousands of paid subscribers, coast to coast. The concept of hot rodding and drag racing was a national movement and Hot Rod became its national voice. As Hot Rod Magazine’s Editor, Parks was a key player in its quick rise, but his real dream was to create an organization that took drag racers off the streets and organized into legal, respectable groups. In 1951 Parks crowned his idea the National Hot Rod Association, and adopted “Dedicated to Safety” as its slogan. Leaping, white-clad flag starter launches a pair of very typical 50’s hot rods, at left a ’53 Mercury and right, a ’47 Plymouth on an airfield drag strip. Using his position of Hot Rod’s editor, he promoted NHRA as the national organization that would make drag racing safe, acceptable and available coast to coast. Parks remained as HRM editor for a few more years, then resigned to take on NHRA full-time. He continued writing a monthly column for several more years and he and Bob Petersen remained lifelong friends. Changing the alarmingly bad image of hot rodders became an early challenge. To get hot rodders to accept the concept of community responsibility he decided to affiliate his NHRA with a network of car clubs. These clubs would help convince local municipalities to embrace the creation of drag strips, and further grow NHRA. Car clubs required that members adhere to a strict code of civic responsibility and safe driving. The reined-in, toned-down behavior of the car club members turned the tide for much maligned hot rodders and their unpopular pastime. Club members were even encouraged to stop and assist stranded drivers, handing them a card that proclaimed: “You Have Been Assisted By A Member Of…” with the club’s name and its assisting member duly noted. Along with membership often went the opportunity to become directly involved in officiating at organized, sanctioned local drag racing events. From those ranks came a committed pool of workers eager to handle the needs of any drag racing event. At the drag strip, The Lords car club ran this homebuilt dragster in the 1950’s. Printed t-shirts and white painter pants showed early desire to look sharp and go fast. To further improve the image a wardrobe change was necessary. Top professional racing mechanics, such as those at the Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 500 races already had an answer, as did the then sanctioning body AAA (American Automobile Association) and USAC. These guys, racers, mechanics or race officials, were usually dressed in all-white uniforms or coveralls. Hot rodders made the next move, eliminating the dark, negative image and trading it for the all-white. Many racers also adopted the white-on-white look they hoped would convey a white-hat, good-guy image. One of earliest touring pro’s was “TV Tommy” Ivo. White-clad Ivo toured with this twin Buick dragster, crewed by young Don Prudhomme. Ivo was a Hollywood child actor and early TV star of “My Little Margie” series. During the 50’s and 60’s many notable individuals passed through the car clubs. Many of today’s best known racers were once members of well known car clubs, and proudly wore their club shirts. One of the most famous of all was the Road Kings, of Burbank, California. TV actor and drag racer Tommy Ivo was an active member, as was his early push-car driver and tire-wiper, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme. Other Road Kings members were Bob Muravez, Tony Nancy, Harry Hibler, Don Prieto and Kenny Safford. Back east, Don Garlits was an early Tampa car club member, along with others such as “Ohio George” Montgomery and Connie “Bounty Hunter” Kalitta. In the Midwest, Michigan Hot Rod Association, MHRA, became huge in the Detroit area, creating and operating the annual Detroit Autorama hot rod car show. Track officials made their presence known with easily-spotted, white uniforms. Here the starter at fabled Lions Drag Strip, Long Beach, CA, prepares to flag-start John Wenderski’s “Black Beauty” fuel dragster. Striped shirt made starter highly visible. Photos of those late 50’s and early 60’s races almost always contain white-clad officials or crewmen. All-white’s became the acceptable, expected form of dress for racers or officials. That lasted until the late 60’s, when big sponsorship money surfaced in drag racing, and the nation’s dress culture among young people changed. By the 70’s the counter-culture had influenced not only politics, but fashion for all Americans, especially those under the age of 30. In all forms of auto racing the trend towards modern professionalism and crew sponsor uniforms changed the all-white dress code. Big money sponsorships covered drivers and crewmen with sponsor logos and crew uniforms. All-white race uniforms for racing or shop work hung on with a few traditionalists. Legendary mechanic, engine builder and crew chief Henry “Smokey” Yunick was one of those. Smokey wore white work uniforms as his daily attire, his name stitched above the pocket. Most NASCAR teams of the early 70’s continued to wear whites until big-money sponsors forced them into sponsor logo-saturated uniforms. Sanctioning body officials were the last white uniform hold-outs. Among the last to sport white trousers with his NHRA Official shirt was legendary Chief Starter, the late Eddie H. “Buster” Couch. So the answer is it was NHRA and Wally Parks that drove this fad to give us racers a "better" image with the "old folks" back in those days. from here: http://eastcoastdragtimeshalloffame...ts-car-clubs-and-drag-racings-innocence-lost/
I suppose all true... but you might have missed one important point, safety. Tracks back then were poorly illuminated and wearing white made folks more visible, especially anyone "official" who was out and about on the track. I even knew of oval tracks in the midwest where the bumpers, nerf bars and wheels of ALL cars were required to be white, so you could see them as best possible - either in the dust of racing or if a car was spinning out thru the infield. Looking good for the sponsors might also be a reason why spiffy white uniforms were used. A fair regimen of Chlorox kept them clean, as I'm sure the crew's wives and girlfriends could attest. Gary
Yup,we had a safety rule,if you were getting a pit pass,you must have white pants on,not dirty ether or you didn't get a pit pass. 1950/60s. Track it self was fairly good lighting,at lest most of the time. Ran lots more then a few laps were 1/2 the track gone dark from short out or what ever. But pit lighting was little,you really needed a flashlight to work on our racer. Driveshaft had tobe white too.
Makes sense to me. It's just like the westerns of the era, the good guys wore white hats. I can remember not being allowed to wear jeans to school and restaurants. I think the only place you could see jeans at a decent social gathering was in Texas. One of the reasons why I still love Texas to this day. The safety aspect I'm sure was a big part also. Blaze orange and reflective clothing happened much later.
I was an inspector for the SCTA for 25 years and still have the white shirts they supplied. I also had the the white pants to match. As time went on it seemed the pants went away but a few of us continued to wear them especially on the first 2 days at Speed Week at Bonneville. It was always easy to see who was working and who wasn't....
Yep or whatever speed equipment or car T shirt you could glom onto. And a small short round brim hat like the grump made popular LOL.
There was a time that SCTA required crews to wear white, I am sure it was a bleed over from NHRA. And there was a time that BNI awarded the best dressed crew at SpeedWeek, the last one must have been around the early 2000's. Now its back to black t shirts and denim and truthfully it is hard to tell the crew from the spectators at the line at Speedweek. It might be a good time to reinstitute a dress code for crews.
Great thread, thanks "loudbang". I always figured it might have something to do with Public Relations- Good guys wear white, and punk-ass trouble makers wear black. But the safety aspect of it sounds right on.
A few of our local dirt tracks here in NW Oregon used to require white pants in the pit area. It was suppose to make people more visible in the often not well lit pit areas. The rule went away sometime in the mid 90s or so.
The origins of white pants in the pits goes back farther than Wally and drag racing. In the mid 40's much dirt track racing was at night. One night Clay Smith was run down in the poorly lit pits of a dirt track. Almost overnight promoters began requiring white pants, or no pit pass. When I ran 1/4 midgets in the 50's everyone was required to wear white pants in the pits. When I started drag racing in 1960, same deal, white. By then for us it was tradition. 1956................... 1963..................
Dean is correct, it started long before Wally and the NHRA came along. In Speedway Motorcycle Racing this continued well into the 80's and later, but only White Pants were required. The only exception was if you had at least two crew members they could wear matching uniforms that did not have to be white. The track officials wore white pants as well.
I remember when a lot of car clubs wore all white,the North Atlanta Street Rods was one such club with the logo embroidered on the back and they looked sharp! HRP
Good topic Loudbang, I always liked the drag racers in white uniforms. Even back in the old days many AAA top tier racers wore white. Here are two pictures from 1919. The one is on the boards at Sheepshead Bay where you can see many in white in the cars. The other is the start of Indy 1919 where you can see many of the team members in white. I have researched Ralph De Palma driver of the #4 Packard and he wore white most often on raceday and grey on practice days often. I always guessed he wanted his best whites for the big day as they got pretty dirty with all of the oil being thrown about. You can see some guys not in white and although I cannot state with absolute certainty there were a number of Europeans in these events and I am not sure they wore white as much as the American team members (although I cannot take that theory to the bank for certain).
Tony I've been going to Bonneville since 1975 and never saw anyone get a best looking car or crew given out. But then I was really low-buck and that wasn't on the top of the list. I, like many, did the best with what we had and I always made my cars ready to race and look good doing it.
Second the comment about bring able to see white in the pits at stock car racetracks. Mid to late 1970's I raced stock car at a couple local dirt tracks.Entering the pits...which were darer than the track...with a windscreen full of wet dirt and down to the last tear off on the visor ,white pants and shirt(track rules)sure made it safer.
Not only more visible in low light conditions but at Bonneville white would be a lot cooler than our normal Hot rodder black T shirts. White shirts and pants don't match my coffee well though.
I guess all the above is true, but....... White cords that were never washed was a huge fad in the 40's. You should see my Mom's yearbook pics, yuck! White pants were also a big fad in the 60's outside of any racing. It think it's as much "monkey see, monkey do" as much as anything! I STILL like to wear white Levi's to car shows and races, I'm 63.
It was in the Programs, but also remember the pits that were mapped out like streets and your pit was inspected before laving. I remember Frank Oddo having us pickup cig and cigar butts. That was in 93 if I remember right. But you have to agree on the long course it is a zoo and the starters and line stewards have a job to weed out the crews. Hey, photographers have to wear our green safety vests, that is so fashionable.
White cotton pants and shirts were cooler on hot days and easier to see at night. There was one track that wasn't too strict about it until someone got hit and seriously injured in the pits. I also had coveralls for cooler nights. The other thing about cotton is it doesn't burn as fast and hot.
Ha! Reading through that piece sounded almost like a screenplay for this movie, dedicated to cleaning up the behavior of hot rodders. The movie came out in 1953, and seems to be a promotion for the very sort of clubs you described.
I got fined a dollar or two at San Jose Speedway for wearing very light tan pants in the pits at a USAC midget race. Bakers whites or you paid the fine. I bought the whites after that. Still got them. Never fit again.
For us it was always blue jeans and a T shirt. Donny actually gave me a white T shirt to wear because he didn't like my Harley Shirts. LOL He did have a light jacket ( like a windbreaker light) with his name silk screened on the back they were yellow.
My dad pitted at the dirt tracks in south eastern South Dakota and across the line in Iowa in the 30's. He said everyone in the pits had to wear white for visibility at that time. Not sure if it's still true, but I was told a few years ago that SnoCross racers (snowmobile version of Motocross) had to have a large amount of orange on their jackets and no orange allowed on the machines anywhere. That way when racing through a big cloud of snow dust, if you see orange on the track in front of you, it's a person and you do anything you can to avoid hitting it.
When we were racing with IMCA in the seventies, they required all pit personnel - racers and suppliers - to wear white. A different take on the visibility thing was that APBA required all their racers to wear orange helmets so that if you got tossed out of the boat you could be seen in the water.
The Stutz White Squadron was a factory racing team that featured white race cars and white coveralls or uniforms with the Stutz name on them. Stutz first race was the 1911 Indianapolis 500, the White Squadron was famous in the teens.
The Jalopy Journal
