Elias Bowie's Amazing Race

Over the weekend, I came across a news story from the San Mateo, Calif., Times, dated August 1, 1955. The story recounts a NASCAR race at Bay Meadows in Northern California. The winner of the race was Tim Flock of Atlanta, then the nation's leading stock car driver. But what caught my eye was the last paragraph of the story:

Unintentional comedy relief during the grim racing was provided by Elias Bowie of Oakland driving a 1955 Cadillac in his first stock car race. Bowie toured the course as a Sunday driver checking the scenery. He had the largest pit crew, topped by a lanky double-jointed chap in green fatigue uniform. He also had provided a full tank car of Mobiloil gas. In spite of (or because of) these precautions, Bowie completed the race.

[San Mateo Times, Monday, August 1, 1955, p.10].

Elias Bowie was my father's uncle (my grandmother's brother). All of his life, at least as long as I knew him, he always drove a Cadillac!