Deke Houlgate, West Coast auto racing promoter, dies at 91

CARLSBAD, Calif. (AP) — A longtime auto racing promoter on the West Coast has died. Deke Houlgate’s clients included such greats as Mario Andretti, Rick Mears, Richard Petty and Johnny Rutherford. Houlgate’s son, Greg, says his father died Sunday at his home in Carlsbad, California, of COVID-19-related illness. Houlgate began his career in sports as a reporter at the Los Angeles Times. He went on to write for the Las Vegas Sun and Los Angeles Herald-Examiner. Houlgate started his own public relations firm in 1962. Deke Houlgate was 91.