April 5, 1878
Albert Champion, who made notable contributions to various modes of transportation, was born in Paris. By the end of the 19th century, he had established himself as a formidable track bicycle racer in his native France. In 1899, Champion surprised nearly everyone by beating out quite a few seasoned cyclists to win the Paris-Roubaix professional bicycle road race in northern France. He finished that race in eight hours, 22 minutes, and 53 seconds.
Champion’s victory in the Paris-Roubaix led to his receiving a contract from a bicycle manufacturer in Boston to take part in races in the United States. Champion began competing in those races in 1900 and, within three years or so, had won approximately 100 cycling contests throughout much of the Eastern Seaboard.
Champion achieved additional fame in July 1903, when he piloted a French-built motorcycle around an outdoor track in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In completing that mile (1.6-kilometer)-long run in 58.8 seconds, he set a world record for a motorcycle traveling around an elliptical track.
At this point in his life, Champion also acquired a strong enthusiasm for another type of motor vehicle. He began racing automobiles as well. Unfortunately for Champion, however, he had a bad accident while driving a Packard Model K Gray Wolf automobile in a car race in October 1903 at the Brighton Beach course in Brooklyn, New York. This collision resulted in Champion breaking his femur in a compound fracture. He consequently spent several months in a hospital and, by the time he was discharged from there, one of his legs was two inches (5.1 centimeters) shorter than the other.
By the following year, Champion returned to Paris to continue his recovery there. He also took time to cultivate his ever-growing interest in the automotive industry by learning more about vehicle components such as magnetos and raising funds for a Boston-based business that would import and sell French electrical parts. In 1905, Champion – now completely retired from cycling – returned to the United States and established the Albert Champion Company in Boston’s South End.
Along with selling electric parts from France, Champion created his own spark plugs. He designed these spark plugs, each of which had his last name stamped on the side and included a ceramic insulator, to protect the center electrode from grounding against metal and also to be more resistant to moisture and engine heat. Champion’s spark plugs and other products proved to be so successful that he eventually opened a second factory in Toledo, Ohio.
A new chapter for Champion opened during the summer of 1908, when he met Buick Motor Company general manager William C. Durant at an automobile dealership in Boston. Durant was impressed by Champion’s products and he convinced the French-born entrepreneur to move to Flint, Michigan, to launch a new company that would supply those products to Buick’s home plant in that city.
By the time Champion arrived in Flint in September of that year, Durant had officially incorporated General Motors (GM) and consequently consolidated Buick and several other small companies into that corporation. The following month, Champion founded the Champion Ignition Company. This business was eventually renamed AC Spark Plugs and ultimately became a division of GM.
Over time, AC Spark Plugs would manufacture replacement parts for not only GM but also other carmakers. The use of these spark plugs even extended to other means of transportation. When Charles A. Lindbergh made his historic solo non-stop transatlantic flight in May 1927, for example, his plane “The Spirit of St. Louis” was powered by spark plugs made by Champion’s company.
Alfred P. Sloan Jr., who served as president of GM from 1923 to 1937, once described what he thought was the crucial ingredient for Champion’s winning formula. “The keynote of Champion’s success was, that he was never satisfied,” Sloan said, “his mind was open to the necessity for constant improvement.”
Champion died in Paris on October 26, 1927, after being punched by his wife’s married lover. Champion was only 49. In the decades since his untimely death, he has been honored in several notable ways. These have included his being inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1977. In addition, a life-size bronze statue of Champion was installed in downtown Flint in 2015.
Photo Credit: Public Domain
For more information on Albert Champion, please check out https://www.automotivehalloffame.org/honoree/albert-c-champion/
Transportation History 
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