The Rajo Jack story coming soon 

In his upcoming book due out May 5 entitled The Brown Bullet: Rajo Jack's Drive to Integrate Auto Racing, journalist Bill Poehler explores the often overlooked life and career of an African-American sports pioneer. Rajo Jack’s passion and talent fueled his ascent in early auto racing in the first half of the 20th Century.  

Jack faced challenges on and off the track throughout his career, overcoming prejudice to earn the respect of white competitors and become one of the most popular athletes on the west coast.  

The powers-that-be in 1920s auto racing, namely the American Automobile Association’s Contest Board, barred everyone who wasn’t a white male from the sport. But Dewey Gatson, a black man who went by the name Rajo Jack, drove into the center of “outlaw” auto racing in California, refusing to let the pervasive racism of his day stop him from competing against entire fields of white drivers.

In The Brown Bullet, journalist Bill Poehler uncovers the life of a long-forgotten trailblazer and the great lengths he took to even get on the track, showing ultimately how Rajo Jack proved to a generation that a black man could compete with some of the greatest white drivers of his era, winning some of the biggest races of the day.

 “Poehler has done a fine job of researching the life of Rajo Jack, relating his determination and poise in the face of discrimination.” – Library Journal