After Prest-O-Lite’s second explosion, Indianapolis officials reluctantly agreed it could continue operations at the recently built South Street facility as the construction of the new River Road facility continued. As part of the agreement, Prest-O-Lite agreed not to have a large number of calcium carbonate tanks near the filling area. ...
James Allison
You Ruined My Sauerkraut!
While Jim Allison and Carl Fisher were both successful businessmen, their lives were changed when Percy “Fred” Avery walked into Fisher’s automobile dealership in 1904 and showed him the contraption that would become the first reliable source of power for automobile headlights. They formed the Concentrated Acetylene Company to produce ...
Eddie Rickenbacker Purchases the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
After Frank Wheeler, one of the original founders, committed suicide on May 27, 1921, Jim Allison bought his shares making Allison the largest stockholder at 56.75%. Carl Fisher had moved to Miami Beach where he was busy developing Miami Beach and was planning an upscale development in Montauk, Long Island. ...
The Cocobolo Cay Club
Carl Fisher was busy with the development of Miami Beach when he, Charles T. Kotcher, and James Snowden were cruising on the houseboat “Zigan” when they came across a small island. Eric Collin described Adams Key in a March 19, 1922, article in The Miami Herald. Its “golden sands stretched ...
The Winningest Driver in IMS History
The winningest driver at IMS isn’t one of the four-time Indianapolis 500 winners or Jeff Gordon, who won five Brickyard 400 races. Rather, it is Johnny Aitken who amassed fifteen victories on the fabled track. Known as “Happy Johnny,” he started racing in 1905 as a member of the National ...