This Day in Auto History:

3.31.1904 Louis Rigolly, driving a Gobron-Brillie at Nice, France, raises the land speed record to 94.78 mph 3.31.1914 Walter S. Austin of the Austin Automobile Company in Grand Rapids, MI is issued a United State patent for his two-speed rear axle 3.31.1931 Knute Rockne, Notre Dame University football coach and namesake of the Rockne automobile manufactured by Studebaker, is killed at age 43 in a plane crash near Bazaar, KS 3.31.1945 Pierre Lefaucheux is appointed Director-General of the nationalized Regie Nationale des Usines Renault 3.31.1956 Racer Kevin Cogan is born in Culver City, CA

Source: Automobile History Day By Day, by Douglas A. Wick