The Trials and Tribulation of Shepard’s Hotchkiss
Elliot F. Shepard Jr. in the #6 Hotchkiss
Elliot F. Shepard Jr., a 30-year-old American and William K. Vanderbilt Jr.’s cousin, drove the most powerful car in the race, a French 130-hp French Hotchkiss. Shepard did not realize that he would soon become the center of controversy for the 1906 race.
Hotchkiss Fatally Strikes Spectator
Just one of the many spectators persistently crowding the course, Curt Gruner, a 33-year-old mill foreman from Passaic, New Jersey, pressed his luck too far in 1906. Slightly to the east of the Long Island Railroad crossing on Jericho Turnpike near Krug’s Hotel, Gruner found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Elliot Shepard Jr.’s Hotchkiss struck him down on the lap six, killing the unfortunate man.
The 1906 Finish -->
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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