Title	Eddie Rickenbacker with the Mason Racing Team
Description	The Mason Racing Team (left to right): Eddie Rickenbacker, Eddie O'Donnell, Billie Chandler and Fritz Walker. Walker was killed in a crash at Galesburg, Illinois in 1914. Rickenbacker left the Columbus Buggy Company in 1912 to become a professional racer. From 1912 to the end of 1914, Rickenbacker worked for Fred and Augie Duesenberg building and driving Mason race cars (later called Duesenbergs). Auto racing was a harrowing sport in those days, as evidenced in this episode recorded by Rickenbacker biographer W. David Lewis, "On 28 July, in a 300-mile race at Galveston, Texas, one of his (Rickenbacker's) tires blew out when he was going 90 miles an hour. Instead of coming off the rim, it got caught and flapped repeatedly across his left arm and shoulder, hitting him like a club. Suddenly, as he considered leaving the race before his arm fractured, the blows stopped. Climbing out of his seat, his riding mechanic, Eddie O'Donnell, had thrown himself across Edd's body and was absorbing the punishing hits. By the time Edd got to the pit both men had severly lacerated arms and torsos and O'Donnell had a separated shoulder."
Creator	Unknown
Publisher	Auburn University Libraries
Date	1913-08-00
Decade	1910s
LC Subject Headings	Rickenbacker, Eddie, 1890-1973 Automobile racing Automobile racing drivers Automobile industry and trade Automobile factories Duesenberg automobile
Format	JPEG
Type	Image
Technical Information	Black and White Photo
Accession Number	101-97-054-2-023
Collection	Eddie Rickenbacker Papers
Repository	Auburn University. Special Collections and Archives
Language	eng
Rights	This image is the property of the Auburn University Libraries and is intended for non-commercial use. Users of the image are asked to acknowledge the Auburn University Libraries. For information about obtaining high-resolution copies of this and other images in this collection, please contact the Auburn University Libraries Special Collections & Archives Department at archives@auburn.edu or (334) 844-1732.
Submitted by	Abernethy, Lynn
Date Submitted	2007-02-14