| Somewhere
south of Muskogee, Oklahoma, the clock ran out on the Hearst Prize. Cal
had spent the 30 allotted days crossing the continent, and he was still
over a thousand miles from the western shore. As the days ticked down, the
crowds that greeted him had grown thinner and his crew more despondent.
All expected him to concede. Cal, however, would not hear of it.
"This is no longer a race against time," he told the reporters
and crew aboard the Vin Fiz Special on October 17, 1911. "It
is not against a competitor. This is a demonstration that man is not held
down by the dead hand of the past."
Jasper Allen, one of the mechanics in the Vin Fiz crew,
recalled, "Somehow, when the prize was gone, a second wind blew up.
The crowds grew bigger and the cheers louder." Chalked messages to
those aboard the train began to appear on water towers along the railroad,
"Help that man Rodgers fly across America." The Vin Fiz flew
on propelled not just by the tenacity of Cal Rodgers, but by the well
wishes of a nation.
On November 5, 1911, 49 days from the start of his journey, Cal Rodgers
and the Vin Fiz reached Pasadena, California, just 27 miles from
the Pacific Ocean. As his wheels touched the ground in Tournament Park,
the assembled citizens of Pasadena rushed him screaming, crying, and
trying to touch him. It took Cal twenty minutes to negotiate a few dozen
yards through the excited throng to the judges' platform, where officials
draped an American flag around his shoulders. He was hoisted into a car
and driven round and round the track while people cheered, danced,
applauded, and wept with emotion. A reporter from the Examiner jumped
on the running board and shouted, "What about the prize? What about
the Hearst money?"
"Forget the prize," Cal shouted back. "I did it, didn't
I? I did it!
Well, almost. He still had 27 miles to fly. Cal rested for a few days
while the Vin Fiz was completely overhauled and spruced up with a
fresh set of wing coverings. He took off from Pasadena on November 12
while crowds assembled at Long Beach to witness the end of his journey.
But just 12 miles short of his goal, the engine sputtered and quit,
forcing him to land. He was back in the air after a quick repair, but the
engine continued to give him fits. He lost altitude, banked hard to avoid
a power line, and plowed into the ground. Once again, he wrecked the Vin
Fiz and for the first time, he was injured in the process. He was
diagnosed with one ankle broken, the other sprained, broken ribs, twisted
back, severe burns, and a concussion. The flying machine was almost a
total loss � but the bottle of Vin Fiz was whole and entire. |
Click on a
photo to enlarge it.
The Vin Fiz lands in Dallas, Texas -- the Hearst Prize was lost
but the grandstands were full.
The Vin Fiz rounds a skyscraper in Waco, Texas.
A stereoscopic view of the Vin Fiz and the crowds
that rallied to see it on its way.
Cal Rodgers with an American flag draped around his
shoulders, after his triumphant landing in Pasadena. The Rose Queen is to
his right.
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