1904 Success leads to Second Vanderbilt Cup Race
The Revised Course for the 1905 Race
The 1904 Vanderbilt Cup Race was an immediate success with the public and supporters of automobile racing. America finally had a major road race that attracted great drivers and cars from around the world. Newspapers and automobile trade journals heaped praise on Vanderbilt and his event. Enthusiasm swelled in the public and the auto factories, ensuring a second Vanderbilt Cup Race in 1905 to be held on October 14th. It was obvious to American and European automobile manufacturers that exciting road races attracted more customers to their products than the less dramatic reliability trials also run during the period. Many drivers, including 1904 winner George Heath, were critical of the Hempstead and Hicksville controls which required the cars to stop for periods of two and six minutes. In response, the AAA Race Commission modified the 1905 course to eliminate the stops in large towns and reduce the number of sharp turns. The new layout was 28.3 miles long, still through rural Long Island. At 10 laps, the distance covered in the race would be nearly the same as in 1904 at 283 miles. The start-finish line and grandstand were moved to Jericho Turnpike in Mineola, approximately four miles west of the 1904 location.
Bert Dingley Wins Trial in a Pope-Toledo
The winner of the American Elimination Trial was Bert Dingley in the 60-hp #2 Pope-Toledo. Dingley overtook Joe Tracy’s Locomobile on the last lap, averaging 56.5 mph and winning by 59 seconds. Despite an outcry from newspapers, automobile magazines, and manufacturers, the AAA Race Commission retained only the top two finishers and selected three also-rans to complete the team: a front-wheel drive Christie, a White Steamer, and another Pope-Toledo.
Entrants for the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup Race -->
1905
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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