Vanderbilt Cup Races

Hi Howard,
I am still trying to establish the presence of Mr. Charles “Charlie” Kirschhoffer as a team member, in some capacity, at the ‘36 race with Scuderia Ferrari, and at the ‘37 event with the Mercedes-Benz team; so far unsuccessful. But during my research I came across an interesting anecdote in the obituary of Nello Ugolini, who was the Scuderia Ferrari team manager for the 1936 event.
    On the day of the return trip back to Italy, after their victory in the ‘36 event, Ugolini asked Captain Tarabotto, commander of the ship “Rex” to delay the vessel’s departure from the Port of New York for more than three hours so that Ugolini and Tazio Nuvolari could return to their hotel room to retrieve the trophy and the winner’s check, for $86,000, which they had left behind, in their haste to get to the boat!
    They forgot the trophy and the check; c’mon is this story true? How would you like to have to explain that one to Enzo?
    Regards,
    Jim Scott

Hi Jim:

Thanks for the Nuvolari story!

I will be searching for Charlie in this collection of photos from the Cradle of Aviation Museum. About 75 photos are from the 1936 and 1937 Vanderbilt Cup Races:

http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/index.php/blog/article/thursday_may_6_2010_treasure_box_of_long_island_auto_racing_discovered_by_t

Howard