Billy Knipper
Chalmers-Detroit at the Massapequa Turn (1909)
The #7 Chalmers-Detroit driven by William Knipper skidded through the Massapequa Turn just after the end of the Long Island Motor Parkway portion of the course. The building in the background was the Massapequa Lodge, one of the three toll lodges built in 1908 to collect fares when the public used the Motor Parkway. The banked turn was part of a temporary road built especially for the race to connect the exit of the Motor Parkway with northward bound Massapequa-Hicksville Road.
Chalmers-Detroit Narrowly Escapes Disaster (1909)
Driver Billy Knipper in his #7 Chalmers-Detroit Bluebird narrowly averted disaster at the Westbury Turn at Old Country Road and Ellison Avenue. Knipper led the race for 12 laps and looked like a sure winner until an engine bearing seized on lap 20. The primitive suspensions and inherently high center of gravity in cars of the era presented challenges when rounding corners at high speed.
Featured Drivers
- George Arents, Jr.
- William Borque
- Louis Chevrolet
- J. Walter Christie
- David Bruce-Brown
- Albert Clement, Jr.
- Bert Dingley
- Arthur Duray
- Lee Frayer
- Harry Grant
- George Heath
- Victor Hemery
- Foxhall Keene
- Billy Knipper
- Vincenzo Lancia
- William Luttgen
- Herb Lytle
- Felice Nazzaro
- Edward Parker
- Al Poole
- Eddie Rickenbacker
- George Robertson
- Charles Schmidt
- Elliot Shepard
- Emil Stricker
- George Teste
- Joe Tracy
- Louis Wagner
- A.C. Webb
- Walter White
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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