Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
Racecar driver Cory Witherill, who is a member of the Navajo tribe, was born in California in 1971 and has remained a resident of that state. In 2001, he made motorsports history when he became the first full-blooded Native American to compete in the Indianapolis 500 (also known as the Indy 500) annual automobile race.... Continue Reading →
July 8, 1862 In the Australian colony (now state) of New South Wales, a group of 19 men met in the office of merchant William Walker in Sydney to establish a club to promote local boating activities. (Along with being an avid yachtsman, Walker was the head of a prominent shipbuilding firm; in addition, he... Continue Reading →
May 28, 1893 A year after the Belgium-based cycling race known as Liège-Bastogne-Liège made its debut, the second edition of that one-day competition took place. The 1893 race covered a total of 155.3 miles (250 kilometers), with the course running from the city of Liège to the municipality of Bastogne and then back to Liège... Continue Reading →
December 16, 1895 In Australia, the second race of the now-famous one-day road bicycle classic between Melbourne and Warrnambool in the British colony of Victoria took place. (Victoria became one of the states of the newly formed Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.) The first of those bicycle races had occurred just a little over 10 weeks... Continue Reading →
In 1920, racecar driver John Riley Boling became the first Native American to compete in the Indianapolis 500. He finished 11th in a field of 23 drivers. (This was only the eighth running of the world-famous annual automobile race, which takes place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.) Boling had been born in 1895 in Bloomfield,... Continue Reading →
June 19, 1971 Garfield “Gar” Arthur Wood, a champion motorboat racer who also achieved fame for various transportation-oriented innovations, died at the age of 90 in Miami, Florida. Wood was born in Mapleton, Iowa, in 1880. He and his family subsequently moved to Minnesota and young Gar Wood developed a lifelong love for boats along... Continue Reading →
During the late 19th century, Tillie Anderson established herself as a fiercely determined and highly accomplished bicyclist. Anderson was born in southern Sweden in 1875. She immigrated to the United States in 1891 and ended up living in Chicago. Anderson worked as a seamstress in a tailor’s shop. When she was 18, Anderson bought her... Continue Reading →
Janet Guthrie, who blazed new trails for women as a professional race car driver, was born in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1938. Initially, her transportation-oriented aspirations were focused on airborne travel. Guthrie earned a pilot’s license when she was only 17. After graduating from the University of Michigan, she worked for several years as a... Continue Reading →
February 7, 1914 Charlie Chaplin, the silent-film comedian and one of the greatest influences in movie history, first appeared on the big screen as his now-iconic Little Tramp character. The film in which he first played that role for moviegoers was a transportation-themed comedy called “Kid Auto Races at Venice.” The film was produced by Keystone... Continue Reading →
January 29, 1878 Bicycle and automobile racer Berna Eli “Barney” Oldfield was born in York Township in northwestern Ohio. Oldfield launched his career as a bicycle racer in 1894 when he was only 16. Oldfield’s bicycle accomplishments brought him to the attention of Henry Ford, who invited him to test-drive one of his automobiles designed for... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 