Willy T. Ribbs

Willy T. Ribbs, Jr.
Willy T. Ribbs in 1984
Nationality	American
Born	January 3, 1955 (1955-01-03) San Jose, California
Retired	2001
CART World Series
Years active	1990-1994
Teams	Raynor Motorsports Walker Racing
Starts	46
Wins	0
Poles	0
Best finish	17th in 1991
Previous series
2001 1999 1983-86 1982	NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series IRL IndyCar Series NASCAR Winston Cup Trans-Am Series North American Formula Atlantic

William "Willy" Theodore Ribbs, Jr. (born January 3, 1955 in San Jose, California) is a racecar driver who competed in many forms of auto racing. After retiring, he became a sport shooter in the National Sporting Clays Association.

Ribbs won the SCCA Trans-Am race at Portland International Raceway in 1983.

Following his graduation from high school in 1975, Ribbs moved to Europe to compete in the Formula Ford Series. He won the Dunlop Championship in his first year of competition, then returned to the United States.

Charlotte Motor Speedway president Humpy Wheeler entered Ribbs to drive a Winston Cup car owned by Will Cronkite in the 1978 World 600 at the Charlotte track. After Ribbs skipped two practice sessions and was arrested for evading police when he drove the wrong way down a one way street, Cronkite replaced him with Dale Earnhardt.

Ribbs went on to race Formula Atlantic cars, winning the pole in the Long Beach Formula Atlantic race in 1982. The following year, Ribbs won five races in the SCCA Trans-Am Series and was honored as Pro Rookie of the Year. Ribbs would attempt NASCAR again in 1986, running three races in the #30 Red Roof Inns car owned by DiGard Motorsports. His best finish came at his debut, a 22nd at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

Also in 1986, Ribbs became the first Black person to drive a Formula One car, when he tested for the Bernie Ecclestone-owned Brabham team at the Autódromo do Estoril, Portugal. Ultimately, Ribbs was not given the drive for the upcoming season. Lewis Hamilton became the first and only black driver to compete in a F1 championship.

Ribbs driving at Laguna Seca in 1991

In 1990, Ribbs joined the CART circuit in a car funded in-part by comedian Bill Cosby. Ribbs had one top-10 event that season. Also in 1990, Ribbs was involved in an unfortunate incident during the Molson Indy Vancouver where a track marshal was killed. The track worker, Jean Patrick Hein, was pushing another car off the track when he darted in front of Ribbs' car, was run over, and killed.

In 1991, he became the first African-American to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. He raced there a second time in 1993 . In 1994, he continued in the CART series with the team, finishing in the top 10 at the Michigan International Speedway and New Hampshire International Speedway races.

In 1999, Ribbs raced in an Indy Racing League IndyCar Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for McCormack Motorsports as a try-out to join the team full-time in 2000. However he crashed on lap four and finished in 26th and last place. After three top-10s the Trans-Am Series in 2000, Ribbs signed to drive the #8 Dodge Ram for Bobby Hamilton Racing in the Craftsman Truck Series. Driving 23 out of 24 races, Ribbs had a best finish of 13th, and finished 16th in points.

In May 2006, a newspaper column by Jason Whitlock of Knight-Ridder quoted Ribbs detailing his criticism of NASCAR and his lauding of the Indianapolis 500. Ribbs created controversy by referring to NASCAR as Al-Qaida, "Neckcar", and WWE.

In May 2011, Ribbs announced he had formed Willy T. Ribbs Racing to campaign former NASCAR driver Chase Austin in the Firestone Indy Lights' Freedom 100 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which would coincide with Ribbs' 20th anniversary of breaking the color barrier at Indy.

Trivia

In the Disney Channel cartoon The Proud Family, Penny Proud and her friends attend "Willy T. Ribbs Middle School," where the mascot is the "Racer."

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

(key)

CART

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Rank	Points
1990	Raynor Motorsports	PHX	LBH Ret	INDY	MIL	DET Ret	POR	CLE	MEA Ret	TOR Ret	MIS	DEN Ret	VAN 10	MDO Ret	ROA	NZR	LS 13		26th	3
1991	Walker Racing	SRF	LBH	PHX	INDY Ret	MIL	DET 11	POR	CLE Ret	MEA 10	TOR	MIS	DEN 6	VAN Ret	MDO	ROA 10	NZR Ret	LS 12	17th	17
1992	Walker Racing	SRF	PHX	LBH	INDY	DET	POR	MIL	NHM	TOR	MIS	CLE	ROA	VAN	MDO	NZR	LS Ret		57th	0
1993	Walker Racing	SRF	PHX	LBH	INDY 21	MIL 11	DET 12	POR 16	CLE Ret	TOR Ret	MIS 10	NHM 15	ROA 12	VAN 16	MDO 11	NZR 19	LS Ret		20th	9
1994	Walker Racing	SRF Ret	PHX Ret	LBH Ret	INDY DNQ	MIL 25	DET 16	POR 25	CLE 12	TOR Ret	MIS 7	MDO Ret	NHM 10	VAN Ret	ROA Ret	NZR 18	LS 11		22nd	12

Indy Racing League

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Rank	Points
1999	McCormack Motorsports	WDW	PHX	INDY	TXS	PPIR	ATL	DOV	PPI2	LVS 26	TX2	47th	4

Indy Lights

Year	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Rank	Points
2011	Willy T. Ribbs Racing	STP	ALA	LBH	INDY	MIL	IOW	TOR	EDM1	EDM2	TRO	NHM	BAL 13	KTY	LVS	28th*	17*

* Season in progress.

See also

• Lewis Hamilton, first black driver to compete in a Formula One Grand Prix, win a race, and become World Drivers' Champion.

External links

• Official Website
• NASCAR statistics
• The HistoryMakers
• Willy T. Ribbs at the Internet Movie Database
• Dallas Morning News (May 23, 2006): "Where Are They Now? Indy 500 driver Willy T. Ribbs now shoots for the top", by Chuck Carlton