There’s something about fall in the Pacific Northwest that makes it a great time to rediscover a favorite local destination. And this season, LeMay – America’s Car Museum in Tacoma has a compelling new reason to visit.
Now open, For Gold & Glory tells the remarkable true story of Charlie Wiggins, a pioneering race car driver, mechanic, innovator, and builder whose accomplishments helped shape American motorsports, even as segregation kept him from competing on some of the sport’s biggest stages.
The immersive exhibition brings Wiggins’s story to life and puts visitors inside the world in which he lived, built, raced, and won.
Meet Racing Pioneer Charlie Wiggins
Wiggins was much more than a talented driver. A gifted mechanic and engineer, he
built his own race car, the Wiggins Special, and became a four time champion of the Gold & Glory Sweepstakes, a racing series created during an era when Black drivers were excluded from many of America’s most prominent motorsports events.
For Gold & Glory explores not only Wiggins’s achievements behind the wheel, but also the ingenuity, determination, and community that surrounded him.
Through historical imagery, artifacts, sound, and immersive design, visitors can experience the energy of Indiana Avenue, the excitement of the racetrack, and the craftsmanship behind the Wiggins Special.
The result is a story that reaches well beyond racing, offering a fascinating look at American history, innovation, resilience, and the people whose contributions have too often gone unrecognized.
For longtime motorsports fans, it’s an opportunity to discover an important chapter of racing history. But you don’t need to know your way around an engine to be drawn into Wiggins’s story. At its heart, this is the story of an extraordinary person whose talent and determination challenged the barriers of his time.
More Than a Museum for “Car People”
That ability to tell bigger stories through automobiles is part of what makes LeMay – America’s Car Museum worth exploring.
Inside its striking Tacoma home, the Museum uses cars as a lens into American culture, design, engineering, technology, and everyday life. Vehicles can spark memories of family road trips and first cars, reveal dramatic shifts in style and technology, or show how designers and engineers continually reimagined what transportation could be.
And there is plenty to discover beyond For Gold & Glory.
Visitors can explore galleries filled with vehicles spanning generations and automotive eras, making a trip through the Museum as much a journey through history as a celebration of the automobile.
Families can compare favorites, grandparents can share memories with younger generations, and design and history buffs may find themselves every bit as fascinated as dedicated car enthusiasts.
The Museum also offers special programs and events throughout the year, from hands on Family STEAM Days to Cars & Coffee gatherings and other experiences that bring automotive culture to life.
Make a Fall Day of It
Located in Tacoma, LeMay – America’s Car Museum makes an easy day trip from Seattle and a natural addition to a South Sound fall outing.
Whether you come to experience the newly opened For Gold & Glory, want to revisit favorite vehicles, or simply haven’t explored the Museum before, fall is an ideal time to see what’s new.
Because the best museums don’t simply display objects. They reveal the people, ideas, and stories behind them.
And this fall at LeMay – America’s Car Museum, one remarkable American racing story is getting a well deserved turn in the spotlight.
|
|
|