1876 – Charles Kettering Is Born
Charles Franklin Kettering was born near Loudonville, Ohio, on August 29, 1876. He would become one of the most influential inventors of the early automotive age, eventually helping found Delco and serving as General Motors’ longtime head of research. His most famous contribution was the electric starter, introduced on Cadillac automobiles in 1912. Before it arrived, starting a gasoline-powered car usually meant wrestling with a hand crank that could kick back violently enough to cause serious injuries. Kettering’s system helped make automobiles easier and safer for ordinary people to operate and was soon adopted throughout the industry. His work stretched well beyond starters, with Kettering ultimately holding scores of patents and playing a major role in the development of ignition systems, fuels and other automotive technologies.
1885 – Gottlieb Daimler Patents the Reitwagen
On August 29, 1885, Gottlieb Daimler patented the machine generally recognized as the first motorcycle powered by an internal-combustion engine. Known as the Daimler Reitwagen, or “riding car,” the strange wooden machine looked more like a reinforced bicycle than a modern motorcycle. A small single-cylinder gasoline engine sat beneath its seat and drove the rear wheel, while two small outrigger wheels helped keep the primitive vehicle upright. Daimler and his collaborator Wilhelm Maybach were primarily interested in proving that their compact high-speed engine could power a vehicle, rather than creating a motorcycle industry. Even so, the Reitwagen became an important milestone in the evolution of motorized transportation and demonstrated that internal combustion could escape the workshop and propel a lightweight personal vehicle.
1898 – Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company Is Founded
The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company was incorporated in Akron, Ohio, on August 29, 1898, with $100,000 in initial capital. Founder Frank Seiberling named the business for Charles Goodyear, the inventor whose work with vulcanized rubber had transformed what could be done with the material decades earlier. Goodyear initially produced products such as bicycle and carriage tires, horseshoe pads and rubber goods, but the arrival of the automobile quickly presented a much larger opportunity. As cars spread across America, tires became one of the industry’s most essential products, and Goodyear grew alongside it. The company would eventually become one of the world’s largest tire manufacturers while also building a particularly strong connection to motorsports, supplying tires for everything from stock-car racing to Formula One and the Indianapolis 500.
1967 – The First Triumph TR5 Is Built
The first Triumph TR5 rolled out of the Coventry factory on August 29, 1967, beginning one of the shortest production runs in Triumph sports-car history. At first glance, the TR5 looked remarkably similar to the Michelotti-designed TR4A it replaced, but underneath the familiar body was a major mechanical upgrade. Triumph installed a 2.5-liter straight-six equipped with Lucas mechanical fuel injection, giving the European-market TR5 a claimed 150 horsepower and making it one of the more advanced British sports cars of its era. American emissions requirements meant U.S. buyers instead received the carbureted TR250. Triumph built only 2,947 TR5s before production ended in September 1968 and the dramatically restyled TR6 took its place. Its rarity and combination of classic TR styling with six-cylinder power have since made the TR5 particularly desirable among Triumph collectors.
2004 – Michael Schumacher Clinches His Seventh Formula One Championship
Michael Schumacher didn’t need to win the Belgian Grand Prix on August 29, 2004. Second place was enough to make Formula One history. Kimi Räikkönen won the chaotic 44-lap race at Spa-Francorchamps, finishing just over three seconds ahead of Schumacher’s Ferrari, but Schumacher’s eight championship points mathematically secured his seventh Formula One Drivers’ Championship with four races still remaining. It was also his fifth championship in a row, completing an extraordinary run of Ferrari titles stretching back to 2000. The achievement extended a record Schumacher himself had broken two years earlier when he surpassed Juan Manuel Fangio’s five championships. Ferrari and Schumacher had dominated much of the 2004 season, with Schumacher winning 12 of the first 13 races he finished. His seventh title remains one of the defining accomplishments of Formula One’s modern era.
