February 18, 2021 - Rajo Jack DeSoto

Lyles Station Historic School and Museum turns to the racing world on February 18, 2021, to celebrate the life of one of the first African American race car drivers, Rajo Jack DeSoto.
Born Dewey Gatson, Rajo Jack, also known as Jack DeSoto, was born in 1905 in Tyler, Texas, and later moved to California when he was in his teens.
When he was sixteen, he joined the Doc Marcell Medicine Show, a travelling entertainment show, as a “roustabout” and developed his mechanical and put those to use working as a mechanic for racing teams, then in 1923 began racing on his own under the name Jack DeSoto at the fairs that the Doc Marcell Medicine Show frequented, driving a Model T Ford he had souped up. Later in the year, Rajo Motor Manufacturing hired him to sell after-market racing kits—a job he excelled at, earning him the nickname “Rajo.”
He won races up and down the West Coast, racing stock cars, midget cards, big cars and motorcycles.
In 1939, Rajo Jack had to drive 400 miles from his home to Oakland, California, for a 100 mile race the next day. Unfortunately, he had torn his engine apart to repair the main bearings, leaving parts scattered all around his garage.
When he called his wife and told her to get ready for the drive to Oakland, she thought she was simply getting ready to ride along with him. She left the house to find him backing his truck up to the garage so that he could push the car onto the bed of the truck.
He grabbed his tools and told his wife, "You drive, I'm going to put this thing together on the road,” and he re-assembled the engine while she drove the 400 miles to Oakland. He finished just in time to qualify for the race and qualified third, finishing second.
In addition to racing, Gatson owned his own business, including his own automobile garage and a cleaning service.
Unfortunately, Gatson was barred from racing in events sanctioned by the American Automobile Association due to his race—this included the Indy 500. He primarily raced on the “outlaw circuit,” the American Racing Association.
Like many in the racing world, Rajo Jack suffered his share of accidents.
In 1938 he lost an eye in a motorcycle stunt but continued racing with partial vision
In a race in Minnesota, he was badly injured in an accident that killed another racer, Wayne “Boots” Pearson, with Rajo suffering a compound fracture of his leg and a severe concussion.
In 1947, Rajo flipped his car at the San Diego Speedway, retiring briefly after the accident but then returned to racing in Northern California and the Midwest. Because of his numerous racing injuries, he could barely bend his arm and had trouble even reaching the steering wheel. These injuries led to his decision to retire, with his last race in Hawaii in 1954, his first AAA sanctioned event, sponsored by the Honolulu Chamber of Commerce.
Rajo Jack’s opportunities to race did suffer due to racism, since he was not allowed to race in the AAA events, so he sometimes used the name DeSoto and claimed to be Portuguese or Native American. Rajo would sometimes claim that being blind in one eye kept him from passing the physical examinations for the races, but his peers knew better.
He often avoided being included in photographs to keep attention from being called to his color.
Due to his racing talent, his peers respected him which meant he was usually allowed to race in events despite the prejudice and discrimination of the organizers.
Racers often drove together in groups between events, meaning they slept at the same motels and ate at the same restaurants as a group. Once a restaurant owner refused Rajo Jack service because of his color. The other drivers confronted the owner, informing him that all of them, including Rajo, would be served or all of them would leave. The owner relented and served them all. This also took place at motels that did not want to rent Rajo a room; the other drivers banded together and insisted that if he didn’t stay, neither did they.
Rajo Jack won many races during the 30s and up into 1940.
Traditionally, the trophy girl’s job at a race is to hand over the trophy and kiss the winner. Rajo’s wife Ruth had to be with him when he won so that she could do the trophy girl’s job and give him both the trophy and the kiss.
He intentionally let another driver win a two-lap match race because his wife wasn’t present, and he knew that he could not receive a kiss from the white trophy girl.
Rajo worked with cars up until he died in 1956, selling auto parts, racing, and working as a mechanic. He died from heart failure while traveling with his brother on Highway 395 in California.
In 2003, he was inducted posthumously into the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame, the first African American driver to be awarded that honor, and in 2007 to the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.