June 16: Mario Andretti

Andretti: winning the 1969
Indy 500 race. Photo
courtesy of ESPNcdn.com

On this date in History .... June 16, 1955: 

The Italian ocean liner, Conte Biancamano, arrived in New York harbor with 15 yr old Mario Andretti & family aboard.  Andretti became one of the greatest race drivers in the world, becoming the only man to win all of the following races:

·         the Formula One World Championship,

·         the US Nat’l Championship (1965, 1966, 1969, 1984),

·         the Indianapolis “Indy” 500,

·         the Daytona 500,

·         the 24 Hours of Daytona,

·         the 12 Hours of Sebring (1967, 1970, 1972) &

·         the Pikes Peak Internat’l Hill Club. 

Mario Andretti won the last of his 52 Indy Car victories in 1993. He officially retired from racing in 1994, having competed in 407 Indy Car events.

June 12: Interracial Marriage Now Legal

On this date in History ..... June 12, 1967:

The Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Loving v. Virginia making it illegal to ban interracial marriage. 

In addition to being guilty of an interracial marriage, Mildred and Richard Loving were also guilty of violation of Virginia law of interracial couples marrying in another state (Wash DC) and moving back to Virginia. 

Law enforcement stormed into their bedroom, shined lights in their eyes and hauled them off to jail.  They were told they could avoid the one year in prison if they left the state and never returned.  The couple decided to fight it and took it all the way to the Supreme Court.

Nine years later, the Supreme Court concluded that anti-miscegenation laws were racist and had been enacted to perpetuate white supremacy: “….The fact that Virginia prohibits only interracial marriages involving WHITE persons demonstrates that the racial classifications must stand on their own justification, as measures designed to maintain White Supremacy.” 

Despite this Supreme Court ruling, such laws remained on the books, although unenforceable, in several states until 2000, when Alabama became the last state to repeal its law against mixed-race marriage.

May 29: Danica Patrick - Indy 500

On this date in History ... May 29, 2005:  

Danica Patrick becomes 1^st woman to lead Indy 500.  

May 29 is a significant date for women in the sports world.  In 1977, Janet Guthrie became the first woman to drive in the Indy 500.  28 years later, on May 29, 2005, Danica Patrick became the first woman to take the lead in the Indy 500.  

Patrick had engine trouble and dropped from 4^th to 16^th place but climbed back up and with only 10 laps left, she took the lead. Her team gambled with the idea of avoiding one more pit stop, which forced her to conserve gas, allowing Dan Wheldon to pass her and win the race. 

Patrick came in 4^th and earned her Rookie of the Year. 

 

November 2: Locomobile

On this date in History ... 1902:

The Locomobile company, famous for their expensive, luxury, steam engine cars, delivers its first gas powered car to a New York buyer. The car was designed by race car driver and engineer Andrew Riker. 

Riker’s cars were considered to be the best built cars in America. A 2-yr old Riker was the first American car to win the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup, a 258 mile, 11 lap race in Long Island. The 4-cylinder, 120 horsepower, two-seater winning car of the international race made Europe take notice of America and its car manufacturing efforts and skills.  The car, dubbed “Old 16”, is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn.

Unreliable and inconvenient as the Locomobile steam engines were (it took 30 minutes to heat the water to steam and the tank needed refilled about every 20 minutes), it was the first car to be used in war.  The British used it in the Boer Wars in the late 1800s in the capacity of a searchlight tractor, a generator and a catering vehicle.  One of the bright spots about the car, at least in British eyes, was the ability to brew a cup of tea by using the water in the boiler.

The company went out of business in 1929.