A Race Car Lost for 98 Years Has Resurfaced in Tacoma

Few cars arrive at a museum with a story quite like the Wiggins Special.

The one-of-one race car was designed, built and driven by Charlie Wiggins, one of the most accomplished American racers of the 1920s and ’30s. After disappearing from public view for more than 90 years, the car has been recovered and brought to Tacoma as the centerpiece of a new exhibition at LeMay – America’s Car Museum.

Former General Motors design chief Ed Welburn spent nearly two decades searching for the car before it was located inside an Ohio warehouse. Welburn now serves as guest curator of For Gold & Glory, the world-premiere exhibition opening Saturday, September 19.

Wiggins was a mechanic, inventor and race-car builder whose talent emerged during an era when segregation excluded Black drivers from the country’s most prominent competitions—including the Indianapolis 500.

Black racers instead competed through the Colored Speedway Association and its signature event, the Gold & Glory Sweepstakes. Driving the homemade Wiggins Special, Wiggins won the race four times: in 1926, 1931, 1932 and 1933.

The car’s recovery provides a physical connection to those victories. LeMay describes it as the original vehicle Wiggins built and drove himself—not a replica or later reconstruction.

Wiggins’ racing career ended after he was seriously injured in a 13-car crash during the 1936 Gold & Glory Sweepstakes. His right leg was eventually amputated, but his accomplishments as a driver, engineer and mentor continued to influence generations of Black racers.

For Gold & Glory places the recovered race car inside the larger world that surrounded Wiggins. Historical photographs, artifacts, automotive design, sound and immersive displays will explore Indianapolis’ thriving Black community along Indiana Avenue, the rise of the Gold & Glory racing circuit and the barriers Black competitors faced.

Welburn, who became the first Black executive to lead global design for a major automobile manufacturer, has worked for years to restore Wiggins’ place in motorsports history.

“Automotive history is not only about the cars that were built or the races that were won,” LeMay curator Bruce Patton said in the museum’s announcement. “It’s about the people whose ingenuity, determination and courage shaped the culture around them.”

The exhibition opens from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, September 19. Opening-day activities include a family STEAM program, live jazz inside the exhibition and Avants Wagonfest on the museum field.

Visitors 18 and younger will receive free admission Saturday. Parking is included with museum admission.

The exhibition is expected to remain at LeMay for approximately one year, but opening weekend offers the first opportunity to see a race car that spent most of the past century missing—and the remarkable story of the man who built it.