Item: i99849

 Authentic Medal of:

United States of America
Lucky Teter’s Auto Daredevil Piece
1930’s Bronze Token Medal 32mm (10.92 grams)
MAY GOOD LUCK ACCOMPANY THE BEARER Lucky Teter WORLDS CHAMPION, Lucky facing 1/5 right.
* HELL DRIVERS * LUCKY PIECE, Car in mid-air stunt.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.

Earl “Lucky” Teter (9 October 1901 – 5 July 1942) was an American stunt driver, showman and entrepreneur. He pioneered and popularized the touring stunt driving show, performing across the country until his death in a car jumping stunt.

Born in Noblesville, Indiana, Teter was a gas station attendant who, by 1932, was performing automobile and motorcycle stunts. “Lucky Teter and His Hell Drivers” performed across the United States and Canada beginning in 1936, and had great success for six years. His show was so popular that, in some years, he performed at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto in the afternoons, then flew to Syracuse, New York, to appear in the New York State Fair at night, which required two sets of equipment. He is credited with creating such now-staple stunts as jumping a car from ramp to ramp and rolling a car. He was also the first to team up with an automobile company, in his case Plymouth, promoting its products in exchange for backing.

He entered the 1936 Indianapolis 500, but did not race. He also appeared in some documentary shorts and did some (uncredited) stunt driving for the 1936 film Speed, which featured James Stewart in his first starring role.

On 5 July 1942, he was the last performer at an Army Relief benefit at the Indiana State Fair Grounds. He planned to break his own world distance record by jumping 150 feet (46 m) over a transport truck. He drove a 1938 Plymouth at 65 miles per hour (105 km/h) and jumped off the first ramp, but came down several feet short and crashed into the supports of the landing ramp. He died in the ambulance taking him to the hospital.

His widow sold the show to Joie Chitwood.

He was the subject of a 2011 documentary, Lucky Teter and His Hell Drivers, which has been released on DVD and can also be rented online.

The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles (9.8 million km²), the United States is the world’s third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe’s 3.9 million square miles (10.1 million km²). With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York. Forty-eight states and the capital’s federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries.

Paleo-Indians migrated from Siberia to the North American mainland at least 12,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century. The United States emerged from the thirteen British colonies established along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the colonies following the French and Indian War led to the American Revolution, which began in 1775, and the subsequent Declaration of Independence in 1776. The war ended in 1783 with the United States becoming the first country to gain independence from a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, with the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, being ratified in 1791 to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. The United States embarked on a vigorous expansion across North America throughout the 19th century, acquiring new territories, displacing Native American tribes, and gradually admitting new states until it spanned the continent by 1848.

During the second half of the 19th century, the Civil War led to the abolition of slavery. By the end of the century, the United States had extended into the Pacific Ocean, and its economy, driven in large part by the Industrial Revolution, began to soar. The Spanish-American War and World War I confirmed the country’s status as a global military power. The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union competed in the Space Race, culminating with the 1969 Moon landing. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the world’s sole superpower.

The United States is the world’s oldest surviving federation. It is a federal republic and a representative democracy, “in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law”. The United States is a founding member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States (OAS), and other international organizations. The United States is a highly developed country, with the world’s largest economy by nominal GDP and second-largest economy by PPP, accounting for approximately a quarter of global GDP. The U.S. economy is largely post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge-based activities, although the manufacturing sector remains the second-largest in the world. The United States is the world’s largest importer and the second largest exporter of goods, by value. Although its population is only 4.3% of the world total, the U.S. holds 33% of the total wealth in the world, the largest share of global wealth concentrated in a single country. It also suffers from growing levels of income inequality and wealth inequality.

The United States ranks among the highest nations in several measures of socioeconomic performance, including human development, per capita GDP, and productivity per person. The United States is the foremost military power in the world, making up a third of global military spending, and is a leading political, cultural, and scientific force internationally.