Ed Justice dies

Ed Justice, a race car builder who joined his brothers to start the Justice Brothers Inc. car care products company, has died. He was 87.

Justice, the last surviving brother, died Saturday in Arcadia of complications from kidney failure, said his son, Ed Justice Jr.

Ed Justice and his brothers Zeke and Gus founded their business after World War II with $2,500 they earned from selling a midget race car they built in their garage.

The brothers brewed fuel and oil additives in their backyard. An early success was a stop-leak additive for transmissions.

The company’s reputation was enhanced by sponsoring the winning car driven by Johnnie Parsons at the 1950 Indianapolis 500. Justice Brothers, now based in Duarte, Calif., went on to sponsor winning cars in nearly every form of racing.

Born in Paola, Kan., Justice and his brothers built their first race car as teenagers. After World War II, Ed Justice joined Zeke in working for famed Southern California car builder Frank Kurtis.

“My dad and his brothers were stereotypical Midwesterners who came to California to find a better life, and they did," Ed Justice Jr. said in a statement released by the company.

Justice is also survived by his wife, Linda; a sister, Marie; two stepdaughters; two granddaughters and six step-grandchildren.