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Featured Article
Image of The Week
By Sigur Whitaker.
Eddie Rickenbacker, who led a consortium to buy the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1927, was a national hero. If you read books on Eddie Rickenbacker, you will learn of his exploits in auto racing, during World War I, and leading Eastern Airlines as it transitioned from a small carrier to one of the leading United States airlines. What you will not find out is much about his time leading the Speedway from 1927 until 1945 when it was sold to Tony Hulman. Yet, Rickenbacker should be credited with saving the Speedway during the Great Depression, a time when the board tracks and most of the other auto racing venues closed.
Rickenbacker was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1890. Like many children of that era, he dropped out of school at age 13. He was exposed to auto racing at an early age as the Southside Columbus racetrack Driving Park was near his childhood home. With a mechanical bent, he was interested in how engines worked. That interest led him to Lee Frayer, a partner with William Miller in a Columbus buggy manufacturer. In 1902, the partners began designing and building automobiles. In 1905, they designed a six-cylinder, air cooled, automobile engine with 36 horsepower. One day in 1905, Rickenbacker showed up at the shop and quickly became Frayer’s apprentice.
In 1910, he helped Lee Frayer, owner of the Red Wing Special, defeat Barney Oldfield. In June, Rickenbacker drove the Red Wing Special in a race at Red Oak, Iowa, where he lost control of the racer going through a curve and the car flipped. The next year, Frayer entered the first Indianapolis 500 with Rickenbacker as his riding mechanic and relief driver. The team finished 13th.
By 1912, Rickenbacker wanted to become a race car driver. He explained, “I wanted to drive good cars fast, to pit my automobile knowledge and driving skill and plain old guts against the world’s best.” Once again, Frayer entered the Red Wing in the Indianapolis 500, this time with Rickenbacker as the pilot. His day ended early when his crankshaft bearing failed.
After parting company with Frayer, Rickenbacker was hired in the winter of 1912-1913 by Fred and Augie Duesenberg as a mechanic. The Duesenberg brothers entered three cars under the Mason title in the 1913 Indianapolis 500, finishing ninth, thirteenth, and nineteenth. Rickenbacker, who had been sanctioned by the AAA, worked in the pits. Rickenbacker had a fearless driving style, crashing five race cars within a year. He was lucky enough not to be seriously injured.
In the fall of 1914 and early 1915, Rickenbacker was driving a Peugeot, then considered to be the world's best car. After the Peugeot’s transmission failed at Corona and later in 1914 and January 1915, he broke a rod, he “unloaded” the car on Harry Miller. Rickenbacker would later comment that it “was the major mistake of my racing career, because he made a tremendous car out of it.” Miller had legendary mechanic Offenhauser tear the Peugeot engine down to discover what made it so powerful. Driven by Dario Resta, it finished second in the 1915 Indianapolis 500.
In 1914, Rickenbacker joined the Maxwell racing team as its manager. When Maxwell quit racing, Rickenbacker approached Carl Fisher and Jim Allison, who had recently formed the Speedway Team, to form a second race team. They agreed and the Prest-O-Lite Team, with Rickenbacker as its manager, was incorporated on September 14, 1915, with an initial capitalization of $20,000. They purchased two Maxwells. Rickenbacker was given the choice of two compensation packages. The first was that he would earn fifty percent of all earnings including paying the second driver, Pete Henderson. Prest-O-Lite would pay all maintenance expenses. In the second scenario, Rickenbacker would earn seventy-five percent of the earnings and would pay all expenses. Rickenbacker chose the second option. The Prest-O-Lite team won the first race it entered, which was at Narragansett Park in Providence, Rhode Island in September 1915.
When he retired from racing, Rickenbacker had competed in 42 major races including the Vanderbilt Cup, and five times in the Indianapolis 500. He had 14 podium finishes with seven wins including at California, Iowa, Nebraska, New York, and Rhode Island. His best finish in the Indianapolis 500 was tenth in 1914.
In May 1917, Rickenbacker joined the American Expeditionary Forces as the driver to General John J. Pershing. He was attached to the newly formed Aero Pursuit Squadron. After gaining permission to join a fighter unit, he began his training at the Aviation Training School in Tours, France. After completing the necessary training, he was assigned to the third Aviation Instruction Center at Issoudun. Despite having completed the training, his commander, Major Carl A. Spaatz refused his requests to become a fighter pilot. In March 1918, he was finally successful in being assigned to the 1st Pursuit Group’s 94th Aero Squadron where he thrived. In April 1918, he shot down a German plane on his first mission. He became an “ace” with five enemy kills by June 1918. He became known as America’s “ace of aces” in World War I by shooting down five observation balloons and 21 enemy planes. He was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Herbert Hoover on November 6, 1930, the only Indianapolis 500 driver awarded the Medal of Honor. He won the award by attacking seven enemy planes on September 25, 1918, near Billy, France. He also received seven Distinguished Service Cross medals and the French Croix de Guerre.
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Sigur Whitaker, Author
Racing with Roger Penske, A History of a Motorsports Legend
The Indianapolis Automobile Industry, A History 1893-1939
The Indy Car Wars, The 30-Year Fight for Control of American Open-Wheel Racing
Tony Hulman, The Man Who Saved the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
James Allison, The Engine Manufacturer and Indianapolis 500 Cofounder