Photography by THE AUTHOR, Eric Geisert & the Blackie Gejeian Collection
Blackie’s T–not yet named the “Shish Kebob Special”–on the staging lot for the Oakland Roadster Show, 1955. n Part 1 we looked at the influences that helped shape the Gejeian driving wheel: his family, love of farming, life on the ranch, and racing hardtops. Here, we look at his showmanship, his daring and innovative show rods, and his Armenian racing brotherhood in Fresno, as well as his honored contributions to the history and cultural life in Fresno.
“There’ll never be another Blackie,” Fresno’s late Kenny Takeuchi, the dean of Central Valley track announcer, said. In an earlier interview before his death in 2019 at 92, “Tak” recalled his four decades as track announcer, historian, media manager, and statistician as well as his respect for Blackie’s diligence and attention to detail. “We had a four-track modified circuit. Friday night we’d race at Kearney Bowl, Saturday at San Jose, a Sunday day race at Altamont, and then close the series Sunday night at Clovis.
“We had 60 cars, enough for A, B, and C main events,” he said. “Blackie’s biggest fear was that there wouldn’t be enough cars and drivers left after three races; we raced the same cars, pavement, dirt, didn’t matter. Officials from San Jose and Altamont would have to high tail for Clovis. But we were good. We arrived on time and Blackie’s show was well run, well officiated, everyone in and out on time. The track was well prepared when we got there—no waitin’ around. But when he was upset his voice would carry a mile. It was time to clear out.”
Blackie was giving with counsel to anyone who loved cars as much as he did. “He was a teacher and mentor for Rick (Perry) and I after we took over the SF and Oakland events after Don’s (Tognotti) [death],” show manager, promoter, announcer, video, and voice impresario George Hague says.
Writer-historian and Pebble Beach judge Ken Gross remembers, “Blackie was unique. He was a perfectionist in every way. I can’t name too many people who had that perseverance, influence, and sheer energy.”
In 1997 Gross guided the Pebble Beach Concours judging committee to a show class for American hot rods and in 2001 Blackie entered the fully restored “Shish Kebab Special.”
“He wanted to win,” Gross recalls, “but got Third. He was hurt, always the quintessential competitor. But he’d taken liberties by reinstating some flaws. He’d even recreated some crooked seams in the T’s original leather.”
NHRA historian and curator Greg Sharp knew Blackie more than four decades. “He was bigger than life. He loved it all, racing, roadsters, shows. He was irrepressible, but he suffered a lot of medial setbacks in later years.”
There is no national or ethnic handle on motorsport excellence. But in Fresno in the late ’40s and ’50s, there was an all-consuming Armenian commitment to speed, the motoring arts, competition, and thriving automotive businesses.
Blackie set the pace on the streets of downtown Fresno. He idolized USAC promoter J.C. Agajanian and was a feted guest at “Aggie’s” 100-mile invitational Open Championship at Ascot Speedway. Ed Iskenderian was born in Cutler over a century ago, but his dad went broke farming and they moved to L.A. Freddie Agabashian, from nearby Parlier, went to Oakland to be nearer the big car action. Harold Bagdasarian left Fresno to orchestrate his own car shows in Sacramento and Oakland.
Eugene “Clean Gene” Sadoian remembers the racing brotherhood. “Blackie’s cousin, Richard Shirinian, had a Candy Orange A roadster, a channeled show and drag car. He bought the body and frame from Paul Soligian, who supplied orange paint for Blackie’s racing hardtops. Smokey Hanonian was the local Bowes Seal Fast distributor and was Blackie’s sponsor as well as a flagman at Clovis and Kearney Bowl. Mike Garabedian painted my ’34 and Blackie’s roadster. Sammy Arakelian was always hanging out at Blackie’s with his severely chopped blue ’36 Ford sedan, chrome dash, blue instruments. Ed “Shrimp” Koomjian ran Eddie’s Speed Shop. Joe Boghosian is now retired. He built most of Dan Gurney’s DOHC Ford engines for winning Coyote teams. His race engines powered everything fast–drag boats included.
“Joe called Blackie sev shun, Armenian for ‘black dog.’ There was no word we knew for fox; he just became black dog,” Sadoian says. “Fred DeOrian was Vukie’s mechanic. John Siroonian, owner of Western Wheels, had a beautiful collection of deuces. Won the big trophy at Oakland.”
Why did so many young Armenian men in Fresno get involved with hot cars, performance, and showmanship?
Dr. Barlow Der Mugrdechian, head of Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno, didn’t have a specific answer about motor racing, but said, “Armenians will take a challenge. They’re bold and daring. It’s a cultural thing. They’ve heard about the old country and built this into their American identity. William Saroyan wrote about their willingness to take chances.”
Blackie took chances—on the tables, on the track, and in life.
“The competitive spirit is in the Armenian DNA,” John Alkire, former CEO of the Big Fresno Fair and now curator of the Fair’s history museum, says. He engineered a permanent exhibit in the museum about Blackie’s life in Fresno. The Gejeian diorama is crowned by a bronze bust of Blackie, one created by Fresno’s Debbie Stevenson.
“This was racing at a different level,” Alkire continues. “They had rough beginnings; they’re survivors. I was the CEO at King Speedway in Hanford (California), and the Armenian drivers were the most competitive, the most aggressive.”
Hoss! Blackie knew thousands but remembered few names. Hence, you were ‘Hoss.’ “Blackie, what was her name?” “Hoss!” And the golden tiger eyes would crinkle with joy.
When this reporter helped produce the Oakland Museum of California’s “Hot Rods and Customs” exhibition in 1996, Blackie generously loaned his Emperor roadster as a center stage feature car along with other AMBR winners in the museum’s Great Hall—plus, of course, the AMBR trophy itself. Midway through the press gathering at show’s opening, Blackie sidled up, “Hoss, it’s too quiet in here.” I knew what he was up to and knew there’d be no stopping him. He returned with a battery, hooked it up, and fired the Caddy, open chrome headers, and raw petrol fumes. The roar was deafening; it set off fire alarms downtown. A museum lady came running down the stairs, crying, “Make it stop! Make it stop!”
She never knew, of course, that there was no stop in Blackie’s life.
The transformation of Blackie’s T from wartime gow job to family conveyance, to renegade race winner on Outlaw Highway–and eventually to America’s Most Beautiful Roadster in 1955–was a long process. Over the years, Blackie chromed every piece, piece by piece. 
Riding fast, far, and hard, Blackie and his sidekick, Amos Torosian, did fulfill in the ’40s the storied elements of true Road Rebels in the Blackie T. This view from May 1947 preceded a daring rod run to Reno. Blackie took on all challengers in night runs on the backroads of Fresno, even beating the Doane Spencer Deuce out of L.A. 
Backstage at the 1959 Autorama. Those identified include Blackie (center), Eugene Sadoian (right), and Bob Enos (center left). Photo courtesy of Eugene Sadoian. 
Once inside the Exhibition Hall for the 1955 Oakland Roadster Show, Blackie’s T drew an immediate crew of admirers. 
Staging the Blackie T, Exhibition Hall, 1955 Oakland Grand National Roadster Show. His pride is tough to suppress; he loves the show. 
Blackie (center front) with Oakland Show winners, 1955. Others identified are (back row) Don Bell, Hayward, CA (standing second from left); Gene Winfield, Modesto, CA (fifth from right, with tie); and Ted Levinthal (second from right). 
A resplendent Mr. Gejeian styles up to pose with the big AMBR trophy at Oakland, 1955. 
In the Oakland Roadster Show’s only AMBR tie, Blackie’s Shish Kebob Special shared the winner’s circle in 1955 with a ’27 T entered by Ray Anderegg of the Merced Rod Benders. 
Reenacting the dramatic undercarriage reveal he staged in the Oakland show–thereby earning this car its eternal nickname “Shish Kebob Special”—Blackie flipped the T on its side in a Fresno Park, 1955. 
Shish Kebob Special ran fast and strong with a 3/8×3/8 stroker 59AB, Isky 404, Edelbrock heads, and four 97s. Blackie did the engine work himself, “sometimes a port and relieve on the dining room table,” says longtime best buddy Eugene “Clean Gene” Sadoian. When Blackie took the car to the 1999 Bakersfield Reunion, he fired the Flattie for hot rod legend Art Chrisman, who, according to historian Greg Sharp, said, “Now, that’s what a flathead should sound like.” 
Fresno motorsports award ceremony, Civic Auditorium, 1954. Left to right: Blackie, Bill Vukovich, unidentified (jacket says Mark or Hank), unidentified, Bill Vukovich Jr., Harry Bellows, and Smokey Hanonian (Blackie’s hardtop racing sponsor). 
With other show promoters at a mid-’70s ISCA awards ceremony. Second from left is Detroit Autorama owner Bob Larrivee, center is George Barris (sunglasses), and Blackie, the Fresno Autorama producer. 
Whenever it was show time, enthusiasts would gather around Blackie for advice or encouragement. He’s shown here with another group on the Coliseum floor of the Oakland Roadster Show before the doors open in January 1990. 
With the Playboy models at the Oakland show, ’70s. 
Motoring journalist, historian, and museum curator Ken Gross was always appreciative of Blackie’s “energy, enthusiasm, and amazing drive,” and considered him a unique figure in modern American rodding and showmanship. 
With best buddy, Sadoian, for Blackie’s 60th birthday party in 1986. 
Another view of the Emperor 1960 AMBR winner at the Exposition Building in Oakland. Photo from the Dobrin archives. 
John Alkire, now retired CEO of the Big Fresno Fair at the Fresno County Fairgrounds, was instrumental in producing a permanent diorama honoring Blackie and his life in Fresno in the fair’s history gallery. Alkire, who also had extensive experience managing motor racing complexes in the Valley, had a lot to say about Armenians and their competitive racing spirit. 
His contributions to Fresno’s motoring culture and the city’s history are honored by this permanent plaque at the entrance to the Fresno Civic Auditorium. Another favorite son, writer William Saroyan, is the only other Fresnan acknowledged at the Civic Center complex. 
There’s a Greek sculpture in the Louvre in Paris called “The Boxers.” When this correspondent’s wife saw the figure facing the viewers she said, “Look like anyone you know?” A powerful trick in time. The high cheekbones, the distinctive tonsorial sweep, the competitive tiger-eyed stare. Appropriate in every way. Blackie too was a fighter. 
The Gejeian history display at the Fresno County Fair features this bronze bust of Blackie, one shaped by Fresno’s Debbie Stevenson, who has also completed a bust of famed Fresno writer William Saroyan. 
Master engine builder Joe Boghosian (here in 2017 with a 4OHC Ford engine for the Gurney Coyote race team) was among a group of young Armenian racers and hot rod enthusiasts who ran with Blackie in the ’50s. To Boghosian, Blackie was sev shun, Armenian for “black dog.” “We didn’t have a word for black fox,” he explained.
In all its “Gejeian Orange” glory, Ray and Carol Cusomano’s sleek ’54 Merc custom was a showstopper at the 2016 SEMA show, where it—and its new color—took center stage in the House of Kolor display.
