Joining A Team
In 1971, Miller organized Vanguard Racing, Inc. to field Benny Scott in Formula A, to prepare him over five years for the Indianapolis 500. Vanguard’s board of directors included Paul Jackson, president of Jackson & Sanders Construction Company, Sargent Shriver, first head of the Peace Corps and former Ambassador to France, who was the Democratic candidate for vice president in the 1972 presidential election, Washington Redskins defensive halfback Brig Owens, and Richard Deutsch, chairman of the board of Harbor Oil Corporation.
Scott drove the Vanguard Formula A in a McLaren M10-A, powered with a 500-horsepower Chevrolet V-8 in the L & M Continental 5000 Championship and SCCA events. Drivers came from as far away as Melbourne, Australia to compete in Formula A. Scott won the CSCC-SCCA Southern Pacific Division Championship in 1972 with the McLaren M10-A.
Scott was featured in Champion Spark Plug’s first national print advertising featuring an African American driver, in a campaign that ran in several national magazines tilted “Fast Road to Indianapolis.” The ad showed Scott standing beside a Vanguard McLaren M10-A. Champion became a secondary sponsor for Black American Racers, Inc. and a charter member of the Black American Racers Association (BARA).
BARA was created in 1972 by Leonard W. Miller, Ron Hines, Wendell Scott, and Malcolm Durham. This organization blossomed into a nationwide membership of 5000, supporting all African American efforts in various categories of auto racing competition. BARA also served as a support network for Benny Scott’s extraordinary motor racing ambition in the aftermath of America's Civil Rights era.
In addition to Benny Scott, Vanguard Racing, Inc. fielded a white driver, John Mahler, in the 1972 Indianapolis 500. Vanguard’s concept was to use Mahler as a development coach and a conduit for Scott’s preparation for the Indianapolis 500 in subsequent years. However, many of Vanguard’s stockholders were so exuberant over the Indianapolis experience with John Mahler that they lost their patience to develop Benny Scott. As a result, they disbanded.
Read more about this topic: Benny Scott
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