1. 1980: Woman wins Boston Marathon by cheating
PHOTO: cbc
A story that you would think is from a Hollywood movie, Rosie Ruiz wins the women division of the Boston Marathon on this day back in 1980. Ruiz had run marathons before , finishing the New York Marathon the previous year. Her boss was so proud of her for qualifying for the Boston running that he offered to pay her way to get there. Wanting to put on a good show for her boss Ruiz came up with a plan to sneak on to course a little over half way and finish in the crowd. But she made a terrible miscalculation when she jumped onto the course just a mile away from the finish line, in front of the 400+ other female runners. For eight days Ruiz basked in her “win” of the Boston Marathon before race organizers figured out she had cheated and stripped her of her title.
2. 1967: General Motors Celebrates its 100 millionth car built in the United States
PHOTO: curbsideclassic
PHOTO: NYtimes
On this day in 1967 General Motors rolls the 100 millionth car off the assembly line. The car was a Blue Chevy Caprice that is still on display at the GM Museum in Flint Michigan in near perfect condition. At the time GM was the largest Car manufacturer in the world once it took the title form Ford in the 1930’s and would remain the top dog until 2008 when it lost the title to Toyota, GM sold 8.35 million cars that year where Toyota had 8.97 million made. One of the main reasons that Ford lost the title was because GM was whiling to finance people to get them into a vehicle where as Ford did not agree with credit.
3. 1918: The Infamous fighter pilot “Red Baron” gets shot down after a record 80 wins
Replica of the Red Baron’s Tri-PLane
PHOTO: Dailymail
PHOTO: wiki
You may not know the name Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, I know we didn’t, but you have most definitely heard of this man by his nickname, the Red Baron. Not talking about the frozen pizza you can pick up at the local market, we are talking about the “ace of aces” fighter pilot that fought for the Germans in the first World War. Originally a part of the cavalry Richthofen decided to try his hand at the piloting an aircraft made of wood and canvas and turns out he was a natural. In those days pilots became legends if they were able to bring even 20 planes which is why the Red Baron became so popular, and feared by any and every pilot that had to face the mighty Red Baron with his 80+ wins. He painted his plane a bright red color which most likely was a major factor in the Red baron nickname. On this day in 1918 Richthofen felt cocky as he flew far into enemy territory chasing would might have been his 81st win, when he apparently was flying too low and was shot through the chest by a Australian gunner on the ground. Although there was some controversy as to who shot him down, many felt that Captain A. Roy Brown who was a pilot in the Royal Air Force had been the one to shoot the Red Baron out of the sky.