Bruce Bromme Sr. was born in 1917, and shortly thereafter was thrust into the world of racing. His father, Louis Bromme, was a highly skilled mechanic who worked for Fred Duesenberg during the board track era. By age seven Bruce was a regular at Legion Ascot Speedway and the Culver City Board Track.
In 1939 Bromme worked as a fabricator on Harry A. Miller’s Gulf Oil Indianapolis 500 team—a position not easily attained and a testament to his ability. In the late ’40s and early ’50s Bromme and his dad built a string of Indianapolis cars raced by Bayard T. Sheffler, Jack McGrath, “Spider” Webb, Manny Ayulo, Bob Scott and Rodger Ward. Bromme also raced cars with the American Automobile Association (AAA) and later the United States Auto Club (USAC) with Johnnie Parsons, Troy Ruttman, Pat Flaherty, Bill Schindler and others as his drivers.
