Pioneering African American Auto Racer Willy T. Ribbs Hosted By Simeone Automotive Museum

This weekend Philadelphia’s world acclaimed Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum is hosting Willy T. Ribbs, the first African-American driver to win a Trans-Am race, test a Formula One car, race in the Indy 500 and compete in NASCAR from the 1980s through the early 2000s.

His life has recently been chronicled in the documentary “Uppity: The Willy T. Ribbs Story”, produced and directed by Adam Carolla, who perhaps not coincidentally is also doing a show Saturday evening at the Keswick Theater.

With Black champions like Lewis Hamilton of Formula 1 and NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace grabbing headlines, and team owners like Michael Jordan shining his reflective super stardom on diversity in auto racing, Ribbs is an important pioneer.

Outspoken and controversial about the challenges he faced as one of the few African Americans professional auto racing, Ribbs will be screening clips from the new film, commenting and answering questions from the audience.

Diversity in motor sports is a Philly strong suit as the locally based Urban Youth Racing School, has been America’s leading minority STEM training motorsports education program with over 6,000 graduates.

For details on program details visit SimeoneMuseum.org.