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"Wiggins Special (Freedom Ain't Free​)​"

by The Pinkerton Raid

supported by
Thomas Marohl
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about

Every Memorial Day Weekend, the roar of the Indianapolis 500 can be heard across the city. Five miles east on 16th Street, Martindale-Brightwood neighbors hear the roar of Interstate 70, which the government cut through their midst 50 years ago.

In the '20s and '30s, Charlie Wiggins was known as the "Negro Speed King." Between 1926 and 1934, he won the prestigious Gold and Glory Sweepstakes, the national championship for Black drivers, four times. His secret was engineering his "Wiggins Special" to run on a mixture of gasoline and jet fuel. He could run the entire 100-mile race on one tank of fuel.

Wiggins was a sought-after mechanic and in 1928 drove a test-run in his car that his friend Harry MacQuinn was going to race. White fans mobbed the pit at Kentucky Speedway, angry that a Black man was driving, and police took him into protective custody. A police report said his arrest was for "speeding."

He never got to drive in his hometown's signature race. Bill Cummings won the race in 1934 with Wiggins as his mechanic, though Cummings' Boyle Products team had to sneak Charlie into the speedway by claiming he was their janitor. In 1991, Willy T. Gibbs became the first Black driver to compete in the Indy 500.

The Pinkerton Raid extends a special thank-you to Joanna Taft and City Gallery for hosting us in their 48-hr Songwriting Residency and to Shirley Webster, who has lived in Martindale-Brightwood since 1943 and watched the construction of Interstate 70 split her neighborhood. "It was devastating for a community," she said.

lyrics

Wee Charlie Wiggins, born to coal
born to make that shoe-black shine
The KKK drove Charlie home
to speedway town, way down southside
Charlie raised his junkyard cat
who roared for the king of speed
his jet-fuel mind turned black to gold
them white boys craved his alchemy

Last Sunday in May and freedom ain't free
The highway shouts on highway
The open road will take its toll
Triple A left him behind

Well, it was a tune-up test on a Louisville track
white man's race but Charlie's steel
That Kentucky mob said, "That man's Black!"
They rolled him out on a paddywagon wheel
Charlie made them tires burn,
his memories by the wayside go
Amid the weeds and the wildflowers
and them rainbow-colored Firestones

Last Sunday in May and freedom ain't free
The highway shouts on highway
The open road will take its toll
Triple A left him behind

Charlie knew the sound of speed, he hear that black cat pur
Down Hillside, Shirley knows it too, the highway shouts to her
Shirley's got a '62 Mercury, teal Meteor, with tailfins sharp
The road calls out to call it home, but home needs fixin for a broken heart

Last Sunday in May and freedom ain't free
The highway shouts on highway
The open road will take its toll
Triple A left them behind

credits

released May 26, 2023
Jesse James DeConto | singer-songwriter, electric guitar
David Wimbish | audio production, acoustic guitar, organ
Jonathan DePue | bass
Scott McFarlane | drums
Caroline DeConto, Katie DeConto, Derek Skeen, Tori Elliott-Gingerich, Sarah Shearin | background vocals
Adam Gonsalves/Telegraph | mastering
Bernardo Tirelli | video animation

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