Competition success played a big part in Indian's rapid growth and spurred technical innovation as well. One of the American firm's best early results came in the Isle of Man TT in 1911, when Indian riders Oliver Cyril Godfrey, Franklin and Moorehouse finished first, second and third. Indian star Jake DeRosier set several speed records, both in America and at Brooklands in Britain, and won an estimated 900 races on dirt and board tracks. He left Indian for Excelsior and died in 1913, aged 33, of injuries sustained in a board track race crash with Charles "Fearless" Balke, who later became Indian's top rider. Work at the Indian factory was stopped while DeRosier's funeral procession passed by.