Between 1913 and 1916, the Duesenberg racing team gradually improved its standings in the annual Indianapolis 500-mile race. In the 1913 race, the team took ninth place in the race. In the 1914 race, Eddie Rickenbacker, the future World War I aviation ace, drove a Duesenberg-powered racecar to a tenth-place finish and US$1,400 in prize money. The Duesenberg team also had a twelfth-place finisher that year. In the 1915 race the team took fifth and seventh places, and in the 1916 race rookie driver Wilbur D'Alene finished in second place. Racing at the Indianapolis 500-mile race went on hiatus in 1917 and 1918, when efforts focused on wartime production during World War I. When Indianapolis 500-mile auto races resumed in 1919, the Duesenberg team had mechanical and fuel issues and its entries did not finish the race that year, but the team had better success in the 1920s.