Action during the 1908 Race
Referee Vanderbilt and Chairman Thompson Inspect Locomobile
Vanderbilt took his role of referee very seriously and at times seemed ubiquitous. When driver George Robertson and riding mechanician Glen Etheridge stopped the #16 Locomobile to strap in a spare tire, Vanderbilt (left) and Jefferson DeMont Thompson, chairman of the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Commission, inquired about road conditions. Robertson was wearing a racing mask and a scarf on his cap to clean his goggles.
Stricker’s Mercedes passes under Carman Avenue Bridge in East Meadow
Running second, Emil Stricker drove the #3 Mercedes under the Carman Avenue Bridge in East Meadow during lap five. However, a broken fan blade gashed the radiator and the engine overheated on lap 10. Stricker finished in sixth place finish.
Isotta Passes Under Jerusalem Avenue Bridge
Spectators on the Jerusalem Avenue Bridge watched Herb Lytle’s Italian Isotta challenge for the lead. Lytle put up a game fight in this stock car, finishing second. This was the same Isotta Lytle drove to victory in the Long Island Motor Parkway Sweepstakes.
#20 Knox Taking the Woodbury Turn
William Borque in the #20 Knox skidded through the Woodbury Turn on to Jericho Turnpike. Tragically, Borque would lose his life in a racing accident the following year in 1909, becoming the first driver to be fatally injured at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The Action in Jericho -->
Motor Pkwy
Feature
The 128-page book by Howard Kroplick, a researcher and lecturer on the races, contains rare images of the races from the archives of major museums, libraries and private collectors. The book Vanderbilt Cup Races of Long Island will be available from Arcadia Publishing in March 2008.
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