William Earnest "Spider" Matlock (June 30, 1901,

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includ ...

– January 27, 1936) was an American stuntman, stunt pilot, car racing promoter, driver and mechanic.

Stunt flying

One day, an airshow was scheduled at the Burdette Airport and School of Aviation in Los Angeles. When the performers did not show up, Ronald MacDougall, a part-owner of the airport, persuaded Matlock and Ken Nichols to help him. After five minutes of instruction (according to Nichols), the pair performed as

wing walkers Wing walking is the act of moving along the wings of an aeroplane (most commonly a biplane) during flight, sometimes transferring between planes. It originated as a daredevil stunt in the aerial barnstorming shows of the 1920s, and became the sub ...

, with MacDougall flying the airplane. The burgeoning field of

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

reached Hollywood, and stunt pilots were needed. In 1924, MacDougall, Nichols and Matlock, formed a group called the Black Cats, later renamed the 13 Black Cats, to set standards and rates for aerial stunts for movies. Among other things, they charged $1500 to blow up an airplane in mid-air. Matlock was once asked to do just that at by a newsreel company. Something went wrong; explosives had been rigged on the wings with a switch with a 30-second delay, but went off prematurely before Matlock could parachute to safety. Fortunately, he survived. (Each of the Black Cats was supposed to have a name that was 13 letters long, which is how Matlock acquired the nickname "Spider", MacDougall got "Bon" and Nichols "Fronty".) As the 1920s came to a close, the 13 Black Cats succumbed to increased safety regulations and cut-rate competition.

Auto racing

Matlock also participated in auto racing, becoming "a promoter, driver and starter in California 'outlaw' racing circles". He was the riding mechanic for winning

1930 Indianapolis 500 The 18th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes Race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 30, 1930. The race was part of the 1930 AAA Championship Car season. Pole position winner Billy Arnold took the lead on lap 3, and led th ...

driver Billy Arnold. They also teamed together for the 1931 and 1932 races, but crashed both times while leading, in the 162nd and 59th laps, respectively. The first time, Matlock was flung , but landed on some grass and only suffered a collarbone broken in three places. The second time, he was badly injured, with a skull fracture and many broken bones (a collarbone, six ribs, a shoulder, pelvis and hip), but was back racing in six weeks, only to break his nose and a thumb in yet another racing crash. He also teamed with

Ernie Triplett Ernie Leo Triplett (September 25, 1906 in Barry, IllinoisThe Talk of Gasoline Alley, Network Indiana, May 25, 2006 – March 5, 1934 in El Centro, California) was an American racecar driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, ...

in the 1933 Indianapolis 500. He was scheduled to compete as a driver in the 1936 race for Ford, but his luck finally ran out. He and driver

Al Gordon Alan Gordon (born June 22, 1953) is an American comic book creator primarily known as an inker and writer. He is best known for his 1990s work on DC Comics' ''Legion of Super Heroes'' and the ''Justice League of America'', Marvel Comics' ''Fanta ...

crashed at

Ascot Speedway Ascot Park, first named Los Angeles Speedway, and later New Ascot Stadium, was a dirt racetrack located near Gardena, California. Ascot Park was open between 1957 and 1990. The track held numerous United States Auto Club (USAC) national tour r ...

in Los Angeles on January 26, 1936; Gordon died that day, while Matlock lingering on until the following day.

References

External links

Photograph
of (left to right) Matlock and fellow Black Cats Al Johnson and "Fronty" Nichols

wing walking Wing walking is the act of moving along the wings of an aeroplane (most commonly a biplane) during flight, sometimes transferring between planes. It originated as a daredevil stunt in the aerial barnstorming shows of the 1920s, and became the sub ...

on the top wing of a biplane piloted by Black Cat "Bon" MacDougall
June 1935 ''Popular Mechanics'' article "Riding Race Cars for a Living"
written by Matlock
YouTube video of his 1932 Indy 500 crash

Photograph of Matlock and Billy Arnold in the #5 car at the 1932 Indy 500

Photographs of Matlock
in the UCLA Library Digital Collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Matlock, Spider 1901 births 1936 deaths American stunt performers Racing drivers from Missouri Stunt pilots People from St. Joseph, Missouri Sports deaths in California