"Ejected" 1912
"Come Fly With Me" 1912
Auto polo was a popular exhibition sport during the 1910s (think Monster Truck rallies today). There would be two teams, each consisting of a driver and a mallet-man. Each team tried to score on the other's goal, with an ordinary basketball as the ball (please click through to see original size -- they're gorgeous and much easier to see detail).
While it wasn't exactly safe, the players definitely spiced things up by intentionally crashing and/or flipping their cars by turning the wheels sharply while going just fast enough to roll the vehicle.
The two pics here, though full of action and energy, were definitely staged for the photographer, probably to be used as promotional material. Flickr dissects them in detail here and here, showing how they were staged, not that them being "faked" takes anything away from these pics. I love them, and think they're hilarious.
Big ups to Shorpy, which regularly amazes me with great photos (like these) from the past hundred years.
Bonus Collision
Crash test Dummies (with band member Ellen Reid taking lead vocals -- nice!) covering XTC's superb "Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead" from the Dumb and Dumber soundtrack.
Technorati tags: auto, polo, 1912, Crash, Test, Dummies, XTC, Peter, Pumpkinhead
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