Fisher, Fun, and Fortune

ARL FISHER CRAVED EXCITEMENT. He raced on bicycles and on ice skates, in cars and in speedboats. He played high-stakes poker, flew hot-air balloons, and once pedaled a bike across a tightrope strung high above a street in the city of Indianapolis. He drank oceans of Scotch and chain-smoked cigars, sometimes as he was chewing tobacco. A compulsive womanizer, he patronized a New Orleans whorehouse—while on his honeymoon. During Prohibition, he smuggled Scotch from the Bahamas to Florida on his speedboat—not for profit, just for fun. And after making millions of dollars in the automobile parts business he blew it all on his crazy idea of creating an American