Before Alli Owens, There was the Legendary Mike Boyle
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Before Alli Owens, There was the Legendary Mike Boyle
It was Memorial Day 1940.
More than 140,000 auto
racing fans were gathered on
the fairgrounds at the Indi-
anapolis Motor Speedway for
one of the biggest racing
events in the world. There
were 32 drivers competing in
the annual Indianapolis 500,
but most eyes were focused on
the Boyle Special, a little
maroon Maserati with a clay
Mike Boyle, in bowler hat, stands behind one of his cars, the Boyle Valve Special.
pipe and a shamrock painted
on its side. Behind the wheel Shaw, then the most famous driver in 134 business manager and Sixth District
the country, didn’t disappoint. He domi- Vice President. Long before the IBEW
was two-time cup winner nated from the moment the green flag and the National Electrical Contractors
Wilbur Shaw, who was hoping was dropped and would have likely set Association were sponsoring NASCAR
new speed records if it wasn’t for a last driver Alli Owens, Boyle was one of
to win his third 500 and minute rain shower, which forced the dri- sport’s major backers, having sponsored
vers to slow down. Sitting quietly in the two Indy 500 winners already.
become the first driver in the stands, but watching with great satisfac- In the days before big corporate
race’s history to win it two tion was Shaw’s sponsor, Michael J. backers, only the very wealthy could
Boyle. afford to start up a racing team; the aver-
consecutive years. Boyle at the time was Chicago Local (Continued on page 33)
30 I B EW JOU R NAL, SPR I NG 2008
I B EW JOU R NAL, SPR I NG 2008 31
The Boyle racing
team boasted
of one of the most
advanced fleets in
motor sports.
1940 Indianapolis
500 winner Wilbur
Shaw poses in the
“Boyle Maserati”
soon after cross-
ing the finish line.
32 I B EW JOU R NAL, SPR I NG 2008
IBEW/NECA-SPONSORED ALLI OWENS RACES AT DAYTONA
For Alli Owens, a day of bad luck will when the teammate’s vehicle was
never rub out the thrill of her first race at knocked sideways by another car.
Daytona. Owens competed in the ARCA Owens entered the pit with four flat-
200, prior to February’s Daytona 500, in tened tires and got back in the race but,
a Chevrolet, sponsored by IBEW and the on lap 23, she blew a clutch and was out
National Electrical Contractors Associa- of the competition. Despite the rough
tion. trip, “It was everything I wanted and
Growing up in Daytona Beach, says more,” she says. “Even Rusty Wallace
Owens, “it was my dream to race at the had guys who went home. That’s rac-
[world-famous] track.” She was thrilled ing.”
when her rookie team became one of “Alli is breaking barriers for women
the 32 cars that made the race out of 65. in the racing world and she is carrying us
Owens, 19, also served as the co- along with her, promoting the IBEW and
grand marshal of the Motorsports Parade, good-paying union jobs,” says Jerry
which marked the start of Daytona Westerholm, director, IBEW Construc-
Speedweeks activities, before continuing tion and Maintenance Department.
her season in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. In her stock car dis- “Even more important,” says Westerholm, “Alli is building a
playing the Web site, www.ElectrifyingCareers.com, she reputation as a hard and fair driver, just the image that we
clocked between 178 and 180 mph in testing before the race. want to promote in our trade.”
But her good fortune ran out near the start of the contest. Owens, one of only two women in the ARCA 200, is
On lap six, she and her teammate from DGM Racing were entered in 10 races through October and hopes to advance
drafting (riding close to reduce each other’s wind resistance) to the nationwide series next year. 1
While Boyle’s legacy is more likely to According to Local 134 Vice President
be studied by labor historians than Russell Ponder, who wrote his thesis at
sports writers, author Brock Yates said the National Labor College on Boyle,
that Boyle’s behind the scene efforts at Boyle moved to Chicago just at the right
the Indy 500 managed to revive auto moment. The city was still rebuilding
racing and helped to set the stage for its from the great fire of 1871, which had
(Continued from page 30) eventual role as one of the nation’s most burned down much of Chicago. Con-
popular sports. Yates wrote the first struction remained a booming industry.
age sponsor was more likely to be account of Boyle and the Indy 500 in the Boyle became business manager of
named Vanderbilt than Boyle. And with book, “Umbrella Mike,” published in Local 134 when he was only 29, and
his trademark bowler hat and cigar, 2006. was an aggressive organizer, turning the
Boyle–a second generation Irish Catholic, “In (the) tough world of big-time auto- local into one of the strongest labor
and electrician by trade–stood out mobile racing, Umbrella Mike Boyle, the unions in Chicago with more than
among the blue bloods sitting with him classic union tough guy from Chicago; 10,000 members. He also became active
in the stands. all-American Hoosier hero Wilbur Shaw; in the International, becoming a member
But he wasn’t looking for attention, and mechanical genius Cotton Henning of the International Executive Council in
preferring not to overshadow his team’s combined their diverse talents … to lead 1914.
historic win. Outside a mention of his their beloved sport into new heights of In 1930, he became Sixth District Vice
“Boyle Maserati,” he managed to stay out popularity,” Yates wrote. President, the only International Officer in
of sports writers’ accounts of the race. IBEW history to continue to serve as busi-
But while keeping out of the sports A Chicago Labor Legend ness manager after becoming a Vice Presi-
section, it was hard to find a Chicago Born in 1879 in Minnesota to a family dent. The Sixth District soon became one
paper that hadn’t put him on their front of modest means, Boyle joined the IBEW of the best organized districts in the Broth-
page at least once. Boyle was one of the at the age of 16. He worked as a lineman erhood, with Boyle regularly hitting the
Chicago labor movement’s most promi- throughout the Midwest before moving to road to lead organizing campaigns in the
nent and colorful figures, and probably Chicago in the early 1900s to work for construction, utility, telephone and gov-
the best known leader of the IBEW in the the Chicago Tunnel Company as an ernment branches.
nation. inside wireman. (Continued on page 34)
I B EW JOU R NAL, SPR I NG 2008 33being a spectator to a major player. Henning to Italy to purchase what
By the mid-1930s, Boyle’s growing would become one of the most famous
valve business gave him both the cars in Indy 500 history.
resources and contacts needed to start The “Boyle Maserati,” would go on
up his own team. He recruited one of to win Shaw his second Indy 500 trophy
the top engineers in the country, Harry in 1939. The bullet shaped, one-seated
(Continued from page 33) “Cotton” Henning, and some of the best Maserati managed to average speeds of
drivers in the field to his team. Ponder 115 miles per hour. While considered
He was known for being a tough
said most team sponsors would only one of the fastest autos at the time, the
negotiator, a quality necessary to survive
pay their drivers 35 percent of the prize average Indy 500 car today often aver-
in the virtually lawless world of Prohibi-
money, but Boyle split prizes fifty-fifty ages up to 200 miles per hour.
tion-era Chicago. His unorthodox tactics
with his victorious driver. His only 1940 would be the last Indy 500 vic-
made him infamous in the eyes of the
requirement was that they not be mar- tory for both Boyle and Shaw. Shaw was
press, but a hero to his members.
ried or have children because drivers leading on the 150th lap at the 1941
In 1937, during a contract dispute
had a high fatality rate competition, when a
between the city and bridge operators
in the sport’s early wheel collapsed, send-
represented by Local 134, he had the
days. “Boyle believed
He was known ing Shaw into a wall.
workers raise more than 30 bridges
that he could not, nor Shaw suffered from
spanning the Chicago River on a Friday
wanted to, have that
for being a a few broken verte-
evening, sealing off downtown from the
burden on his con- brate, effectively end-
rest of the city. The city quickly settled.
science if something
tough negotiator, ing his driving career,
Boyle was also known to cut the power
happened to the dri- but not his involve-
to street cars and police stations at
ver,” Ponder wrote in
a quality necessary ment in the Indy 500.
strategic moments during bargaining to
his thesis. He would go on to
speed up negotiations.
While American to survive in the serve as president of
These actions didn’t help his image,
auto companies stayed the Indianapolis Motor
but they paid off for Local 134 members.
away from auto racing, virtually lawless Speedway, before
During the Depression, Local 134 was dying in a plane crash
German and Italian
the only local to grow its ranks. Boyle companies saw motor world of in 1954, becoming one
also helped start the first health and sports as a great way of the most legendary
welfare plan in the Chicago area. to promote their brand Prohibition-era figures in Indy 500 his-
Boyle was also an early advocate of and outfitted their dri- tory.
racial equality in the labor movement. vers with the latest Chicago. Boyle largely ended
At a time when most unions were segre- technology, putting his involvement with
gated, he helped recruit the first black American drivers at a distinct disadvan- racing after 1941, turning most of his
member of Local 134 in 1919 and would tage. attention toward IBEW politics, Ponder
go on to appoint the first black business Boyle had entered the 1937 Vander- said. In 1946, at one of the IBEW’s most
representative in the construction indus- bilt Cup with a homemade design built divisive International Conventions,
try, Ponder said. Auto racing, like nearly by the legendary racing engineer Harry Boyle broke with his former ally, Inter-
every other aspect of American life, was Miller, but placed near the bottom of the national President Ed Brown, in order to
segregated at the time, but Boyle was a pack, overwhelmed by his German back former International President
strong supporter of the Colored Speed- competition. While European competi- Daniel Tracy for the top spot in the
way Association, the racing association tion would not be a problem at the 1939 union, playing a leading role in Tracy’s
for blacks. Indy 500—the last European entry was victorious return to office.
In addition to his role in the labor in 1916—“he knew that getting his Boyle was still serving as Sixth Dis-
movement, he also owned the Boyle hands on a European auto would give trict International Vice President and
Valve company, which produced high him a real edge,” Ponder said. Local 134 business manger when he suf-
quality engine valves for racing cars. The German auto makers did not fered from a fatal heart attack in 1958.
make their racing cars available to pri- National news outlets, including Time
The Birth of the Boyle Special vate interests, but the economically and The New York Times, ran his obitu-
Auto racing was a lifelong passion struggling Maserati brothers—among the ary, although none mentioned his side
for Boyle. His interest dates to the top Italian car designers—were willing career in racing.
invention of the modern car. Yates said to part with one of their older models “He always kept a low-key profile in
Boyle witnessed one of the first orga- for the right price. Even used Maseratis the sport, but his involvement in racing
nized auto races in American history, in didn’t come cheap, but Boyle knew he is always fascinating for those who have
Chicago in 1895. He soon went from wanted to get his hands on one. He sent studied his union career,” Ponder said. 1
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