Starting Somewhere
American folklore is full of heroes whose daring feats and larger-than-life statures conquered this country and broke new ground in America. Paul Bunyan and his blue ox Babe, John Henry, Annie Oakley, and Pecos Bill are all examples of regional heroes in American folkloric history.
Erwin “Cannon Ball” Baker. image courtesy Don Emde
Erwin ‘Cannon Ball’ Baker is an American folkloric hero whose story exemplifies the adventure of traveling in the early 20th century. This was a time when roads were largely unpaved, road maps did not exist, and weather reports were obtained by scanning the skies.
Erwin Baker was born in a log cabin close to Indianapolis in 1882, moving to the big city in 1894. Apprenticing as a machinist, he saved enough money to purchase an Indian motorcycle and enter his first race in 1908. By 1909 he was competing hard at the Indianapolis dirt track and was featured in the Indianapolis News as an emerging phenomenon.
Baker won the inaugural four-lap sprint race on the taroid surface at Indy, which was crushed limestone covered with tar. Racers were getting hurt from flying stones and were threatening to leave the race event, as it was a dangerous surface. Carl Fisher, the managing partner of the speedway, was forced to resurface the track in brick in order to continue holding events after several deaths occurred in 1910. This controversy is recounted in Mark Dill’s book, The Legend of the First Super Speedway, which I reviewed last episode. Check it out if you haven’t yet read it.
Creating a Career
The Hendee Manufacturing Company of Springfield, Massachusetts soon caught on that Baker was their golden boy in what would become a head-to-head with Harley-Davidson over motorcycle market share. Baker was given an Indian and put on their race team, and from that Baker would gain experience and rack up wins on dirt tracks.
Baker’s notoriety came from his desire to set long distance records, which he started to do with his Indian, and later, with automobiles. In 1914 Baker set a cross-country record on his Indian of 11 days, 11 hours, and 11 minutes, traveling from San Diego to New York City.
(Baker stopped for dinner at his home, then motored on.Fancy that!)
(this was a later recounting of the event, as Baker had already passed through this territory by early May 1914.)
As seen in the ad above, he would make several records as he journeyed west to east, north to south, even journeying into the Caribbean! Baker’s switch to automobiles started with Harry Stutz offering Baker a 1914 Bearcat as a reward for setting a cross-country record in it. Which Baker did in 1915, but not without encountering some challenges along the way.
(This is one perspective.)
(This is Baker’s photo as seen in his retrospective on the record-setting event. Notice that a small crowd has shown up to watch the excitement!)
However, in the end, Baker DID set a new long-distance record, and he DID get his Bearcat. Now, wouldn’t you do such a feat to nab yourself a Bearcat?
It was worth all of that mud ‘n stuff, don’tcha think? image courtesy AACA library
Building a Legacy
During the early decades of the twentieth century, manufacturers were falling over themselves to get endorsements for their products, as seen in the ads festooning the pages of period auto journals. And for someone involved in endurance driving or racing, let’s just say that they were earning plenty of moola appearing in ads and endorsing products.
This one of several ads that featured Baker and his record runs. image courtesy AACA library
Baker was in the thick of this, and in addition to endorsing products, Baker would drive cars hither and yon, setting record after record. Baker eventually crossed the United States 126 times and covered over 5 million miles in his travels.
Baker’s nickname, “Cannon Ball” comes from his race against the Chicago-New York Express, which he of course beat. In another record attempt, his cross-country dash in a supercharged 1933 Graham-Paige Blue Streak 8 set a long distance record of 53 hours, 30 minutes that lasted over 40 years. Until 1973!
Cannon Ball Baker’s story inspired a cross-country non-sanctioned race that was held in the 1970s to openly defy the national speed limit of 55 miles per hour, which had been instituted by the U.S. Congress in 1974 as a response to the Arab oil embargo of 1973.
Nothing escapes Hollywood’s attention, and this infamously rebellious activity inspired several movies, beginning with The Gumball Rally in 1976. Two comedic movie productions, appropriately called The Cannonball Run, were released in 1981 and 1984 and starred Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, and a host of other notables. This series of madcap films was bookended by Speed Zone! in 1989.
The Cannonball Run road events were celebrated in a book by Yates called Cannonball!: World's Greatest Outlaw Road Race.
Although Erwin “Cannon Ball” Baker never won a major race in his life, his name endures as a lasting symbol of those early motoring pioneers who were living their passion for adventure and speed, and very often doing it by roaring along in a Stutz Bearcat speedster! Baker was considered a hero of the early twentieth century from his exploits in his Stutz Bearcat speedster (and many other vehicles); his bio is part of my book’s chapter on Stutz.
Thanks to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for use of images from their collection, Newspapers.com for newspaper excerpts, as well as historical resources from Indystar.com and the Indiana History Blog.
= Book News =
My publisher is shipping books to us on November 19 from Canada, so no bottlenecks with container ships or holdups at a seaport are expected. I am hoping for delivery by December 1, and I have set up my book’s sales page at this website—just navigate to it from the header bar at the top of my website.
Several folks have already put in an order for copies, and I am very grateful for their support!
Recently my old computer died, and I am limping along with an aged laptop until my replacement computer and all of my blog records (stored on the retired unit) come back to me. It’s a very apprehensive time for me, what with needing to write and all. I think I’ll go blow off some steam by taking a ride in my speedster!