Elias Bowie
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San Antonio, Texas, U.S.
San Francisco, California, U.S.
| Elias Bowie | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | May 10, 1910[1] San Antonio, Texas, U.S. | ||||||
| Died | January 26, 2005 (aged 94) San Francisco, California, U.S. | ||||||
| Achievements | First African-American to start a top-level NASCAR race | ||||||
| NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| 1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
| First race | 1955 Race No. 30 (Bay Meadows Racetrack) | ||||||
| |||||||
Elias Abraham Bowie Jr. (May 10, 1910 – January 26, 2005) was an American professional stock car racing driver. He is credited as being the first African-American to start a top-level NASCAR race, doing so in 1955 at Bay Meadows Racetrack.
Bowie made his lone NASCAR Grand National Series start on July 31, 1955. Driving a Cadillac at Bay Meadows Racetrack, a mile-long dirt track, Bowie completed 172 of 252 laps and finished 28th of 34 cars.[2] He was noted for having the largest pit crew of all the drivers in the race.[3]
Personal life
Although his date of birth is sometimes noted as 1909 or 1914, Bowie was born in 1910 in San Antonio, Texas, to a laundress and a hotel porter.[1] He was a transportation entrepreneur in the San Francisco Bay, California area.[4]