KEITH ANDREWS

Colorado Auto Racing Club Hall of Fame Inductee 2011

          Our first inductee into the CARC Hall of Fame is Keith Andrews. Keith Andrews was born on June 15, 1920 and lived in the Colorado Springs area. In World War II he was in the US Army Air Force but when he returned home he became one of the daredevils who formed the CARC. One of our Charter Members, Keith began racing with the Club immediately, racing roadsters in 1946 at tracks such as Brighton and Dupont. He became immediately successful and won quite a few races on the dirt tracks. This was quite an accomplishment for a man who was partially blind in his right eye since childhood. When the Club moved to Englewood, Keith moved with them and raced the bigger cars.

            Andrews’ strong suit, however, became midgets and he started at Lakeside with the little cars in 1947 running a Ford V8-60. The next few years he was awarded a top ride with the Koch Offenhauser and he shot quickly to the top of the field. In 1949 Keith headed east and ran a season in national races at speedways such as Soldier’s Field, Chicago and the 16^th Street Speedway in Indianapolis across the street from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He won his first major midget championship race at Jeffersonville, Indiana and finished fourth in the national points chase.

            One of Keith’s later challenges was the Pike’s Peak Hill Climb; an event that carried national championship status. His best finishes there were second in 1953, first in 1954, fifth in 1955, and eighth in 1956. The run up the 14,110 foot mountain remains one of the most recognized events in the world, and Keith conquered it with style. He proudly yet modestly accepted international recognition for his conquests there.

            Another challenge came in 1954 when Andrews secured a ride in the PanAmerica Carrera in Mexico. That was a race across the entire country on open roads, similar to the Mille Miglia in Italy. Andrews was offered the opportunity to run the race in a brand new Cadillac Coupe DeVille and chose another CARC legend, Blu Plemons as his co-pilot and navigator. The car came off the showroom floor and headed to Mexico with very few modifications running against the might of factory Lincolns with massive budgets. Keith and Blu finished an unbelievable third in the event and received well-deserved praise for their efforts.

            Then Keith moved up to the big time. The Indianapolis 500 is the holy grail of racing and in those days, men who raced at Indy were gods. It was the pinnacle of success to race at the famous two and a half mile track. Andrews first appeared there in 1955 and had a very successful rookie race, finishing twentieth. He returned in 1956 and qualified well but was involved in an early wreck. The car was repaired by the pit crew and sent back out later and although hopelessly out of the picture for victory, Andrews finished a creditable twenty-sixth. In 1957, he had impressed enough people that he was offered a ride with a team owned by former world driving champion Guiseppe “Nino” Farina from Italy. The car was a lightweight special and cost about 25,000 1957 dollars. He was turning very quick laps during practice but on May 16, he lost control of the car coming out of turn four when the front suspension broke and hit the wall backwards at over 135 miles per hour, losing his life.