Eddie Rickenbacker (1890–1973) had a knack for danger and an affinity for new technology. He had, according to him, 135 scrapes with death. His passion for speed, whether in cars or in airplanes, was a prime reason for these close encounters.
He was born into poverty to Swiss immigrant parents who were both religious and disciplinarians. As a child, he was a bit of a troublemaker, but when his father died in a construction accident (though there is some suspicion about foul play) when he was 13, he left school and started working to help the family. He held numerous jobs, including selling newspapers, eggs, and goat’s milk, and eventually, after lying about his age in order to skirt the child labor laws, landed a job at the Federal Glass Factory. He then worked at the Buckeye Steel Casting Company, then a beer factory, a bowling alley, cemetery monument yard, and later became an apprentice at the Pennsylvania Railroad….