The origins of a legend often have humble beginnings. Black was born in 1927 in Huntington Park, California, the state where he would mostly remain for the rest of his life. From a young age, he was already tinkering with engines and autos just for the fun of it. His Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee bio quotes him as saying, “When I was about 14, I talked my mother into letting me take the old family car apart. I put rings and bearings in it, and when my dad came home, he about croaked when he saw his car all apart in the driveway.”
That amateur tinkering soon led to numerous apprenticeships with big names like Clay Smith. By his early 20s, Black was already a rising star. But at this time, he was focused on boat racing. When he broke a speed record on his second attempt in the Salton Sea, his engines soon became highly sought after. With this accolade under his belt, Black began receiving numerous requests for custom engine builds. It wasn’t long until the Keith Black engine company began in his backyard. His biggest innovations, however, were yet to come.
[Featured image by KBRE via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and edited | CC BY-SA 3.0]
