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DRAG RACING’S BLACK
HISTORY LAID OUT IN A STRAIGHT LINE
by Chris Martin
2/11/2000
February is black history month and we thought it appropriate
that DRO address the subject of Afro-American drag racers.
There have been many outstanding black drag racers over the
past half century, and there is a basis for truthfully saying "too
numerous to mention," but we’ll try to squeeze
in as many as memory allows.
For example, California racer Eddie Flournoy, whose son
Rodney showed well in Funny Car in the 1980s despite a zero
budget, wrenched on Hall of Famer Jim "Jazzy" Nelson’s
fuel burning coupes and roadsters in the 1950s. Greg Tabler
was the first black NHRA eliminator winner when he nailed
Super Stock at the 1981 U.S. Nationals. Eric Reed-Dowd
was
the first black pro finalist when he lost Funny Car to Mike
Dunn in Joe Pisano’s Olds Cutlass at the 1989 NHRA Southern
Nationals in Atlanta. The first blown and injected nitro-burning
pro winner was Reed’s pal, the late Tony McCallum, in
Funny Car at the 1989 IHRA Springnationals in Bristol, Tenn.
Since then Michael Phillips, the first NHRA pro winner in
Pro Stock Bike at the 1995 NHRAHouston Slick 50 Nationals,
and Antron Brown in the same class have torn up admirably.
Redell Harris, also in Pro Stock Bike, was a rising star
before the budget broke. Brown was really impressive winning
last year at the Castrol Nationals at the Texas Motorplex,
the Pontiac Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, and the NHRA Winston
Finals in Pomona, making him the winningest black drag racer
ever.
Below we thought it would be cool (No, I’m not trying
to sound like Thelonius Monk) to look back on some of the
great ones. In the first segment, we’ll list guys who
really rumbled and made national news. I’m going to
leave out Phillips and Brown since you already know what
they’ve done, but some genuine memory floggers will
crop up I’m sure.
THE STARS:
MALCOLM DURHAM, FUEL COUPE
One of the truly great pioneer Funny Car racers from the
1960s. Durham’s "Strip Blazer" Funny Cars
were all Chevrolets and it’s a safe bet that if he wasn’t
the first (and I think he was), he was almost the first in
the eight-second zone for Chevrolets. From roughly 1962 (Super
Stock) to the early 1970s (Funny Car), the Washington "D.C.
Lip" was a fixture on the East Coast match scene racing
the Don Nicholsons, the Ronnie Soxes, the Dick Landys, the
Ramchargers, the Tasca Fords, and Bobby Woods’ routinely.
RONALD LYLES, PRO STOCK
East Coaster Ronald Lyles was the best black Pro Stock Mopar
racer in history. He joined the Pro Stock ranks in 1971 and
raced heavily on the Atlantic seaboard, especially at New
York National, Cecil County, Capitol, and the various Pennsylvania
and New Jersey tracks. He really hit the big time in 1972
with former Sox-Martin team driver Joe Christie shoeing for
the first five months. Lyles took over running elapsed times
in the 9.3s at 145-mph and winning numerous two-car and eight-car
match races.
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