Vanderbilt Cup Races

Did you identify the race and cars at the starting line of the 1912 Milwaukee Vanderbilt Cup Races?

• The Race and Date

The 1912 Milwaukee Vanderbilt Cup race on October 2, 1912 with this photo being taken at 10:45 a.m. with the starting of the engines.

• Location

Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Known as the "South Milwaukee" course, the area in Greenfield Township was the secondary choice after the Milwaukee Automobile Dealers Association's first choice known as the "South Greenfield" course was rejected due to streets being deemed too narrow for the race. (See maps below)

• Who took home 1st place?

Ralph DePalma in his Mercedes 90 completing the 38-lap course in 4 hours, 20 minutes and 31.54 seconds.

• What tragic event took place during the practice runs for this race?

Driver David Bruce-Brown and Mechanician Antonio Scudelari were tragically thrown from their car and killed the day before during a practice run when a tire blew on his FIAT S74. (See more below)

• Kudos: Identify as many cars and drivers as possible

#22 Mercedes (Ralph DePalma); #23 Mercer (Hughie Hughes); #24 Knox (Ralph Mulford); #25 Lozier (Harry Nelson); #26 Mercedes (Spencer Wishart); #27 Stutz (Gil Anderson); #28 Mercedes (George Clark); #29 Fiat (Ted Tezlaff)

Congrats and Kudos to Steve Lucas for not only correctly answering all the questions, but also identifying all cars and drivers in the photo.

Greg O.

The smoke from the fouled spark plugs as the engines roar to life.

Closeups

Information and some photos from Joel E. Finn's book, "Grand Prize The 1912 Milwaukee Races- Vanderbilt Cup and Grand Prize"

Stats

The Course in Greenfield Township

The initial rejected course and newly selected course

Closeup

David Bruce-Brown Tragedy

David Bruce-Brown and Mechanician Antonio Scudelari in the FIAT just before practice

Despite being warned by Fred Wagner that his tires were in very poor condition, Wagner stated that Brown's reply was he'd be fine as he only intended on just a few more laps.

As seen in this photo, the right rear tire is in very poor condition. The blown out left rear tire that caused the accident was no longer on the vehicle. Judging by the condition on the right rear tire, it is no surprise the left rear failed and sadly, Wagner proved to be correct.

DePalma Wins!

Ralph DePalma taking the checked flag from Fred Wagner winning the 1912 Vanderbilt Cup Race