Albert Champion

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Albert Champion (1919)

Albert Champion (born April 5, 1878 in Paris ; † October 26, 1927 there ) was a French-American racing driver and designer of engine accessories. He founded the Champion Ignition Company , which was renamed AC Spark Plug Co. in 1909 .

Life

At the age of twelve, Albert Champion began working as a messenger for a French bicycle manufacturer. To become the company's fastest courier on a bike, he trained hard. He became so successful within a few years that he drove to his first victory in a national bicycle race in 1894 at the age of 16. In 1899, Champion won the Paris – Roubaix race and five years later he was the French standing champion , although he had a shortened leg as a result of an accident.

For the fast-paced champion, it was only a short step from cycling to motorcycling , which finally brought him to America in 1899 . In order to increase the performance of his motorcycles, Champion repeatedly tinkered with the spark plugs common at the time and achieved significant improvements. In 1904 he founded his own company, the Champion Ignition Company, in Flint and began importing, manufacturing and marketing spark plugs and other accessories.

The company, renamed AC Spark Plug Company in 1909 , was very successful and in 1927, after Albert Champion's death, was bought up by General Motors and incorporated into the group.

After his early death at the age of 49, Alfred P. Sloan , then President of General Motors, said: “The keynote of Champion's success was, that he was never satisfied (...) his mind was open to the necessity for constant improvement." (German: The key to Champions success was that he was never satisfied (...) He was open to the need for constant improvement.)

Web links

Commons : Albert Champion  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ time magazine of November 7, 1927: Death of Champion
  2. ↑ Hans Borowik : 300 racing drivers in one volume. Short biographies. Deutscher Schriftenverlag, Berlin 1937, p. 14.
  3. ↑ automotivehalloffame.org ( Memento from July 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME Champion, Albert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French-American entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH April 5, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH October 26, 1927
Place of death Paris