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As
an African-American, Booker Jones realized that breaking into racing
would be tough, but he didn’t realize how tough. Finally, when he
was unable to persuade anyone to let him drive for them, he tried
his hand at building his own car. After his first race, at Miller’s
Falls, Mass., Booker knew that competing in a racecar was something
he wanted to do. In those early years, he found that drivers
deliberately tried to wreck him. His answer was to build stronger
cars that could stand up to the punishment, and, when he was pushed,
he pushed back. He slowly gained a reputation as a racer to be
respected.
Booker was one of the original low-buck
back yard racers but competing against big dollar teams and names
like Geoff Bodine, Richie Evans, Bugs Stevens, and Ron Bouchard,
Booker proved that he could be consistently competitive. With the
help of a handful of good friends, including Ray Anderson, Rick
McNally, and Bruce Bentley, the cars and motors that Booker put
together at his Springfield auto repair shop ran up front with the
high dollar teams.
While Booker won’t be remembered
for many wins or championships, he will be remembered for his
generosity and a sincere willingness to help out his fellow
competitors Late in the 1967 season, Pete Hamilton was barely
leading the NASCAR National Sportsman point championship and his car
was unable to compete in an important race. Without hesitation,
Booker offered the #27 and Pete garnered enough points that allowed
him to be the champion.
Booker followed the career Wendell Scott, a fellow African American
who drove a Grand National car. One of Booker’s biggest
disappointments was that he was racing at Utica-Rome one night, and
missed Scott, who came looking for Booker to warm up his Grand
National car at the Thompson Speedway.
Bones
Bourcier recently paid tribute to Booker in the February 2003 issue
of Speedway Illustrated: “He drove NASCAR modifieds around
the Northeast for what seemed like a hundred years, and yet when he
died this past July at the age of 74, it was not his racing you
remembered. It was his friendly smile, his big right hand shaking
yours. He was everybody’s buddy.”
Breaking into racing is never easy, but Booker
Jones overcame tough odds to persevere as one of the few African
Americans in racing. We welcome him into the NEAR Hall of Fame.
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