The Crittenden Automotive Library

On This Day in Automotive History: October 15

On This Day in Automotive History
October 15

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Birthdays: Lee Lorimer (1887), Tom Mulligan (1890), Adolf Brudes (1899), Dick Shuebruk (1907), Tom Cherry (1911), Buddy Rusch (1911), Brownie Pitt (1914), Erno Festetics (1915), Gober Sosebee (1915), Chuck Stevenson (1919), Clyde Minter (1921), Al Pease (1921), Lee Iacocca (1924), Bill Small (1925), Teodoro Zeccoli (1929), Johnny Halford (1930), Red Farmer (1932), Bob Kosiski (1934), Spurgeon May (1934), Roland Wlodyka (1938), Jack Bland (1946), Fred Campbell (1952), Dallas Raines (1954), Gabrio Rosa (1954), D'Arcy Russell (1956), Bob Green (1959), Jim Brinkley Jr. (1960), Mike Buckley (1963), Dwayne Tatman (1966), Jon Paques (1967), Jay Sommers (1967), Vanessa Marcil (1968), Rob Rizzo (1973), Troy Searle (1974), Pat Brewer (1975), Robbie Harrison (1976), David Hansson (1979), Tom Boonen (1980), Jason Patison (1980), Brandon Whitt (1982), Bruno Senna (1983), Matt Jaskol (1984), Chad McCumbee (1984), Richard Campollo (1989), Dominic Storey (1989), Daiki Sasaki (1991), John Stancill (1992), Tanner Whitten (1992), J.P. Crabtree (1994), Nick Leitz (1996)

1919: Bureau of Public Roads' FY 1919 annual report, which Chief Thomas MacDonald transmits to Secretary of Agriculture D.F. Houston today, notes that of 189 men employed by Bureau of Public Roads at the start of World War I, 79 entered military service (plus one woman, clerk Edna Munger) and 3 died in action (Drainage Engineer Willis E. Comfort, Jr., Highway Engineer Percy A. Rideout, and stenographer Harris E. Petree). In addition, Auditor William Brown died of the nationwide flu epidemic, which struck immediately after the war. One Bureau of Public Roads woman entered the naval service as a landsman.

1950: John J. Raskob died.

1958: Bureau of Public Roads Commissioner Ellis Armstrong attends the ribbon cutting ceremony for the AASHO Road Test at Ottawa, Illinois, one of his first official acts as Commissioner. “Today we are opening the most important section of highway in the country. For highways are built for only one reason--to serve the people. And this road is not different in that respect...The benefits from this test road...will begin to serve the Nation at the earliest possible date.” Bureau of Public Roads Director Frank Turner and former Commissioner Charles Curtiss, now with ARBA, also participate.

1981: MotorWeek premiered.

2000: Chevron announces the acquisition of Texaco.

2009: Harley-Davidson announced that it would discontinue the Buell line.

1966: President Lyndon Johnson signs the Department of Transportation Act in the East Wing of the White House, authorizing creation of the USDOT, with FHWA as one of the modal Administrations. He stated “The Department of Transportation will have a mammoth task--to untangle, to coordinate, and to build the national transportation system for America that America is deserving of.”

1975: Administrator Norbert Tiemann announces the establishment of an FHWA Division Office in Tehran, Iran, to be headed by Daniel Hammond and staffed with 11 FHWA employees. FHWA will be reimbursed for all costs incurred while providing technical assistance to Iran.

1990: President George Bush signs Public Law 101-427, renaming the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways: “The Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways.”

1999: FHWA's Nondestructive Evaluation Validation Center debuts at the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center. The center is the only one in the world dedicated to evaluating and validating nondestructive technologies for highway and bridge inspection. Executive Director Anthony R. Kane joins Research and Development's Associate Administrator Bob Betsold and Glenn Washer in cutting the ceremonial ribbon.

On This Day in Automotive History: October 15