Mystery Foto #20 Solved: Driver Walter Christie and mechanician Lewis Strang practicing in a 1906 Christie on Guinea Woods Road
Did you solve this weekend's Mystery Foto?
Answers to the Mystery Foto questions:
Identify:
- The driver
J. Walter Christie
- The mechanician
Lewis Strang
- The race car
1906 front-wheel drive 100 HP Christie that crashed during a practice run for the 1906 American Elimination Trial.
- The likely date of the Foto and its location
Around September 20, 1906 on Guinea Woods Road in Old Westbury.
Comments (8)
Congrats to Greg O., Brian McCarthy, Steve Lucas and Dick Gorman for identifying Christie and Strang.
Kudos to Greg O. and Dick Gorman for the great jpegs!
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Close-Ups
Other photos taken by the photographer during the shoot
Comments
Ah! One of my favorite drivers and innovators!
Walter Christie with mechanician and future Indy 500 driver Lewis Strang. Seen here in Christie’s Vanderbilt Cup entrant during a practice run on Guinea Woods Rd for the 1906 Races. Unfortunately the car they’re sitting in experienced steering problems, hit a telegraph pole and did not race.
Modern view of Jericho Tpke and Glen Cove Rd where the mystery photo was taken.
Driver, Mechanician & Auto: Walter Christie,Lewis Strang in the Christiemobile.
Date & Location: going by an alike photo within this website, I’ll say their on Guinea Woods Rd, photographer facing northeast in 1906.
Driver - Maurice Fabry
Mechanician - Placenza
Car - Itala
Date - Practice Run for the 1906 VCR or Elimination Race - September, 1906
I think that’s J. Walter Christie (driver) and Lewis Strang (mechanician) in the #9 Christie racer that was scheduled to participate in the 1906 American Elimination Trial race. Since Christie had an unfortunate meeting with a telephone pole the day before the race, this photo was probably taken on September 21, 1906 during a test run on Guinea Woods Road (today’s Glen Cove Road) sometime before he crashed.
Mystery Foto # 20… The driver shown here is John Walter Christie and the mechanician is Lewis Strang. The race car is a 1906 100 hp Christie Front wheel drive… the only front drive car to ever to enter the Vanderbilt Cup.The date is in September 1906, probably practicing for the American Elimination Trial.
Seen here are hand written and typed descriptions from Peter Helck about Christie’s car that had been totaled during the 1905 Elimination practice. Noteworthy, for myself anyway, is his mention of Christie’s demountable rims.
Looks like they’re travelling on Guinea Woods Rd (Glen Cove Rd).
Greg. Allow me a nit-picking correction of of the caption accompanying your modern day photo of the Jericho Tpke./Glen Cove Rd. intersection. I agree the photo was taken from that point but technically not taken from Glen Cove Rd., at the time known as Clinton Rd., because in 1906 the northern terminus of Clinton Rd. was about 300 feet east of today’s straight alignment. I believe they became one road late 1940’s-early 1950’s.