Kleiner’s Korner: A Very Imaginative (and Horrific) Tale of a 1902 Auto Race on Long Island
As Greg O's Garage noted on June 29 opposition to automobile racing was expressed in various publications in the early 1900s. This essay in "Broadway" magazine of November, 1902 makes this emphatically clear by making the impact of racing analogous to the ravages of war.
The author, Victor Chase (presumably a play on words related to automobile racing), creates an atmosphere of automobile racing on Long Island reminiscent of a battlefield. Reading his assessment one wonders from what race he must have witnessed to cause this viewpoint.
Art Kleiner
An Eye-Catching Title
The title was a clue as to the author's intent.
Death and Destruction
The final conflict couldn't be avoided: "the Marathon of motor-cars, the Waterloo of the mobile - a clash of death-engines . . ."
The scene of the battle: Hempstead, Long Island. The author writes the area was 100 miles long and half that wide so it would appear that the entire island was the battlefield. Possibly a clue as to what race he was using as his basis for the article.
" . . . thirty thousand of the greatest challenging, record-holding man-killers . . ."
All Known and Unknown Makes Were Present
Interesting imagination by the author of the names of the man-killer autos!
The Foremost Families Were Represented
"The auto battle of the world . . . with all the foremost death-dealers engaged"! The battle begins!
"The slaughter begins . . ."
with the French machine being plowed into by its adversary.
The Earth Trembled . . .
" . . . no living thing could withstand the repeated shocks of this merciless power."
A mention of mansions within twenty or thirty miles to hopelessly escape the carnage.
The ending summarizes quite an imaginative tale of automobile racing on Long Island at the beginning of the 20th century. Seems that a full length movie of epic proportions should have followed.
Comments
In case someone doesn’t know, Heath: an area of uncultivated land. I realize this was fictional, but he describes the Hempstead Heath being 100 miles long ( Long Island is about 120 miles long ) Remember Mad Max ( Mel Gibson )? Maybe this publication was referred to for the movie. : )
road warrior