Hazel Eaton rode her 1912 Indian motorcycle along the inside of the barrel wall at speeds up to 60 miles per hour – often with no hands. She told a reporter that although the riding appeared to be “clever,” she more or less functioned without really thinking about the danger or what she was doing.
Onlookers, who stood at the top of the barrel as riders edged closer and closer to the top, were unaware of the ease with which the riders performed – for the most part. On one occasion, Eaton’s back brake locked during a performance. She tumbled to the bottom of the motordrome and spent several weeks in the hospital suffering from head and facial injuries. While death was common in the motordrome, Eaton’s injuries never stopped her from riding the walls.
After 15 years trick riding in the motordrome, Eaton divorced Ira Watkins, then purchased and managed her own show for several years, traveling throughout the world and every state in America. She married Jesse Reis, a traveling circus auditor in 1928. Together they continued to contract with circus troupes until 1942. Beatrice Houdini, who became a close friend of the Reis’s and wintered with them in Florida.
Information from Wikipedia
