The Vanderbilt Cup Races

Herb Lytle

The American #6 Pope-Toledo and the French #7 Panhard (1904)

Courtesy of The Helck Family Collection

Each race car carried two men, the driver and a mechanic called a riding mechanician. The mechanician assisted with repairs, helped navigate the course, and worked a hand pump to maintain oil pressure. Outclassed by the Europeans’ powerful racers, some with large 90-hp engines, the five American starters included modified touring cars such as 24-hp #6 Pope-Toledo driven by Herb Lytle. Following the Pope-Toledo was the French 90-hp #7 Panhard driven by George Heath.

Italian Isotta Wins the Motor Parkway Sweepstakes (1908)

Courtesy of The Suffolk County Vanderbilt Museum

The winner of the Motor Parkway Sweepstakes was Herb Lytle driving his Italian #P42 Isotta at an average speed of 64.25 mph, an American record for long-distance speed contests. As Lytle drove past the newly constructed Jerusalem Road Bridge over the Motor Parkway, his riding mechanician looked back towards the grandstand. The grandstand could be seen through the bridge passageway.

Isotta Passes Under Jerusalem Avenue Bridge (1908)

Courtesy of The National Automotive History Collection at the Detroit Public Library

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.

Featured Drivers

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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