Joseph Reynolds "Joie" Ray Jr. (September 29, 1923 – April 13, 2007) was an American open-wheel and stock-car racer.
Ray was born in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
. In 1947, Ray was the first African American licensed by the
American Automobile Association. Ray raced primarily in the Midwest and raced in AAA, USAC, CSRA and other organizations, but despite many sources to the contrary, was not the first African-American to race in NASCAR's top series. The Joie Ray who started 25th in the 1952 Daytona race in a Henry J was white, from Portland, Oregon and little is known about him. They were two different men.
Ray died in Louisville of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...
on April 13, 2007, at age 83.
Ray was posthumously inducted into the
National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2023.
References
External links
*
* http://www.racerhub.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-11418.html
1923 births
2007 deaths
African-American racing drivers
Burials in Kentucky
Deaths from pneumonia in Kentucky
Racing drivers from Louisville, Kentucky
African-American IndyCar Series drivers
20th-century African-American sportspeople
21st-century African-American people
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