The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh Read Online Free PDF Page B

grown men under him.
    Eddie had shown himself to be a mechanical genius, and he was so personable at smoothing over problems that Firestone made him a sales manager, opening dealerships throughout Texas, at the princely sum of $125 a month. The new job not only allowed Eddie to contribute significantly to his family’s support, but it also helped him pay off the mortgage on their home. He continued moving up in the company, becoming a branch manager in Omaha, with another hefty raise in salary. Satisfying as this was, though, no amount of money or power could slake Eddie Rickenbacker’s lust for speed.
    By 1910 he was nineteen years old, a strapping six feet, two inches tall, and ruggedly handsome with a head of rich black hair, a square jaw, conspicuous dimples, a prominent nose, and dark penetrating eyes. In small midwestern towns of the day, dirt track auto racing was immensely popular. Lee Frayer had produced a sleek little Firestone roadster that Eddie determined would be perfect for such events and add to the luster of the Firestone brand if he began winning races. 5
    He stripped one of the roadsters down to its essentials, removing its body and fenders, and installed an extra gas tank in the rear. He had the car painted white, which would become his racing trademark, and had a pair of white coveralls made to match.
    The first event Rickenbacker entered was a twenty-five-mile county fair contest in Red Oak, Iowa. Most of his competitors were fellow car salesmen and dealers, trying to promote their products and win some prize money at the same time. The day before the race Eddie arrived in Red Oak and drove alone on the track, round and round, until he had memorized the dimensions of every curve and calculated the fastest safe speed at which it could be taken. When he was finished, Eddie knew when to brake, when to accelerate, and when to coast or float along the entire track, a practice that would set him apart during his entire racing career.
    Eddie lost at Red Oak but he quickly strung together victories at Omaha and Columbus.
    In the weeks before each of his races Eddie practiced at the track so many times he could take the curves “blindfolded.” Not only was he consistently a winner in these races, but people would come up to him afterward and say, “I want that car,” which made him doubly successful.
    B Y 1911 THE I NDIANAPOLIS 500 had become the foremost automotive event in the world and featured some of the greatest drivers of the day: Ray Harroun, Bob Burman, Louis Chevrolet, Barney Oldfield, and Art Greiner. With Rickenbacker and Frayer alternating as drivers in Frayer’s powerful new Red Wing Special, Eddie was driving about halfway through the race when just ahead of him Greiner’s wheel disintegrated and the car pitched, sending Greiner’s mechanic through the air to his death and breaking Greiner’s arm. Harroun won with an average speed of 74.69 miles per hour a and the Frayer-Rickenbacker Red Wing placed eleventh—just out of the money but not a bad start for beginners in a big-time race.
    It was the first time Rickenbacker had come face-to-face with death on the racetrack, but if he was unnerved he didn’t show it. It was also the first time that Rickenbacker fully absorbed the sordid bloodlust of the crowd. There was no mistaking the fervent, electrified exhortations for “More speed! More speed!” and “Faster! Faster!” As one observer put it, here was the “ugliest animal sound in all nature: the frenzied screaming, yelling, howling of men and women who in their lust for thrills and blood had torn their garments of human dignity to shreds.” 6 The drivers knew this, but auto racing was a big-time sport, with major paydays, which made front-page news.
    After Indianapolis, Eddie found it difficult no matter how much money he was making to go back to selling cars and dirt track racing in the sticks. After another year he resigned from Firestone’s company and purchased a one-way