Sixty-five years after his death and a century following his headline-grabbing exploits on two wheels and four, Cannonball Baker remains an iconic figure in not only motorsports, but in American culture itself.

Celebrated in movies, books, and with a cross-country race named for him, the name Cannonball Baker remains synonymous with adventure, speed, and daring. His celebrity transcended the fields of motorized endeavor, and prompted President Herbert Hoover to exclaim, More people know Cannonballs name than mine.

Since he was born in a backwoods log cabin near Lawrenceburg, Ind., on March 12, 1882, its ironic that Ervin George Baker became a symbol of the era that ushered in the machine age.

Baker grew up a tall, gangly kid, but possessed a natural athleticism. After moving to Indianapolis with his family as a kid, he competed as a wrestler, boxer and gymnast in his local high school.

His gymnastic skills proved so exceptional that a popular acrobatic entertainment team hired him, and he crisscrossed the country on the vaudevillian circuit. His bent as a showman took a different turn, however, when he became enamored with bicycle racing.

Trading the theater boards for the board track velodromes, he quickly succeeded in the incredibly popular sport.

Anxious for even speed on two wheels, he turned to motorcycles. Baker bought his first one in 1908, an Indian, and competed on tracks throughout the Midwest. On July 4, 1908, at Crawfordsville, Ind., he won his first race. And a year later, he was ready for the sports first major event.

It proved a historic one.

A new, 2.5-mile track had opened on Indianapoliss west side. Carl Fisher, its developer, christened the facility with a series of FAM (Federation of American Motorcyclists) events. Racing on a treacherous, oil-treated, ground limestone surface, Baker captured the first motorized race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Aug. 14, 1909.

After that win, however, he stepped away from conventional racing events. The president of Indian Motorcycles, George Hendee, approached him about promoting the brand. To accomplish that, Baker then undertook a series of attention-capturing stunts.

He raced against trains from city to city. He broke countless speed records. And during a time when roads were only deeply rutted, rock-strewn, mud-infused paths, he became renowned for cross-country endurance runs. He even took his exploits international.

In 1912, Hendee funded a run dubbed the South American Tour, and Baker raced his Indian through Jamaica, Panama and Cuba. He completed more than 14,000 miles, while huge crowds thronged to catch a glimpse of the Crazy Yankee as he roared through tiny villages and hamlets.

After one record-setting transcontinental run in 1914, a New York newspaper writer compared him to the Cannonball Express locomotive. Baker loved the comparison, and bore the moniker the remainder of his life. It was so popular he trademarked it.

His AMA Hall of Fame worthy, two-wheel accomplishments were not the sole reason for Bakers celebrity. His achievements on four wheels became equally unique and trendsetting.

He carved out an unparalleled place in motorsports history as the only person to compete at Indianapolis on a motorcycle and in a race car. His Indianapolis 500 appearance came in 1922, at the urging of Henry Ford. Driving a Ford-Frontenac, he managed to run the entire 500 miles and finished 11th, despite a series of time-eating pit stops.

As he had with the motorcycles, Baker became particularly adept at long-distance runs. He drove a huge variety of cars, as manufacturers clamored for the famous Cannonball to handle their machines.

In 1933, he drove a Graham-Paige across the United States in a record-setting 53-1/2 hours through desert sands, on mud paths and horse-buggy roads. The media dubbed it the Cannonball Run.

Forty years later, automotive journalist Brock Yates revived the Cannonball Run. It captivated the publics imagination, inspiring books, movies, and TV shows. Dan Gurney completed the 1972 version of the Cannonball Run in 35 hours and 54 minutes in a Ferrari Daytona. Gurney benefited from interstate highways and cops tended to look the other way.

By comparison, Bakers speed was remarkable even for today and an extraordinary one for the 1930s.

Bakers renown and automotive expertise caught NASCARs attention. In 1948, they named him their first national commissioner. Besides NASCAR, Baker remained a prominent spokesman and consultant in automotive performance circles until his death on May 10, 1960.

In a lifetime of incredible automobile and motorcycle runs, Cannonball Baker established an unbelievable 143 transcontinental records and racked up more than 5,500,000 miles.