Abstract:
Jack Allen showed promise as a newspaper reporter. So Los Angeles Herald management let his editors know he should be made a sportswriter and be sent to cover an important event in an era when auto racing was hyped as “the sport of the ‘70s.”

Jack’s trouble was finally traced to a racist cult that had speedway ties. Jack, meanwhile, dug up another story on the night before the race and was celebrated by his newspaper with a Pulitzer nomination. To him, a Pulitzer nomination that didn’t capture the prize was actually “first loser.”