Erwin "Cannon Ball" Baker

This image of famed motorcycle racer Erwin "Cannon Ball" Baker" first appeared in the November 7, 1909 Indianapolis Star. It was published to promote an upcoming Federation of American Motorcyclists (FAM) bike race held on a dirt track in Nobelsville, Indiana.
 
Earlier that year Baker had competed in the first motorized race meet ever staged at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He won a ten mile race for amateurs at the meet. Baker was one of the rare breed of drivers who made the transition from motorcycle racing to automobile racing and competed in the Indianapolis 500. He raced in the grand event once, in 1922.
 
The caption originally published with the photo read as follows:
 
"Erwin Baker and John Sink, who holds the Indiana Motorcycle Club's race record, will compete in a 100-mile contest at Noblesville today. It will be the longest motorcycle race ever run over a half-mile track, a fifty-mile race being the longest that has ever taken place under F.A.M. rules."