Many know the name Chevrolet as one of the world’s best selling brands of cars and trucks. Few, however, know that the origin of that iconic automotive moniker is linked directly to the history of American auto racing. 
Louis Joseph Chevrolet was born in a rustic, Swiss village on Christmas Day, 1878. While still in school, he began racing bicycles, and, at 16, built and sold bikes . When the first cars appeared, his interests, as with many early cyclists, turned automotive.
His interest led to an apprenticeship with two European car companies before he made his way to America via Canada. In New York City, he gained renown as a mechanic, and was pursued by several automobile companies before accepting an offer from Fiat. That proved a fortuitous choice as he was also able to compete as a Fiat driver. He won the first time he raced — on May 20, 1905.
Leaving Fiat he joined the Buick racing team, and his many victories there gained him acclaim as one of the most famous drivers in the nation. That attracted the attention of automotive entrepreneur, William C. Durant, founder of the General Motors Corporation.
Durant had been forced out of General Motors, and, hoping to reverse his fortunes by capitalizing on Chevrolet’s famous name, formed the Chevrolet Motor Company with Louis. The first Chevrolet designed by Louis was introduced in 1912. It was priced at $2,150. It succeeded. Three-thousand cars were sold the first year, 16,000 the next two, with profits of $1.3 million.
Durant, however, wanted Louis to design a car to compete with the Ford Model T. Louis, on the other hand, wanted his namesake to only be of premier mechanical design. They parted ways, with Louis giving his shares to Durant. It was a decision that eventually cost him millions, as Durant eventually folded Chevrolet into General Motors. 
Louis then formed the Frontenac Motor Company, building race cars of his own design, and competing in the Indianapolis 500 four times along with his brothers, Arthur and Gaston.
The Frontenacs were so successful that the Monroe Automotive Company hired him to design a race car for them, with which Gaston won the 1920 Indianapolis 500, before dying on a Beverly Hills board track later that year.  
Louis’s design aptitude and racing fame gave him another opportunity to produce a passenger car. This venture was backed to the tune of $1 million by the Stutz Motor Company, but because of bad management decisions, the backing evaporated.  
Disillusioned, he turned to aviation, designing and building the Chevrolair aircraft engine. He had secured contracts, but lost it all in the 1929 stock-market crash. 
Nearly penniless, Louis Chevrolet was forced to work as a mechanic for the company he helped form — and still bore his name — until his death in 1941.