Vanderbilt Cup Races

Dec 10 2009
Great Crowd at the Southold Historical Society Presentation and 3 Updates

It was a great crowd last Tuesday at the Southold Historical Society with 67 people in attnedance to discuss "The Long Island Motor Parkway ath Peconic Landing in Southold. (0 comments)

Dec 09 2009
Favorite Website: The Fairchild Collection of the NY State Archives-Queens

Bill Bellmer has discovered a website gem for all LIMPers who enjoy the historic Fairchild aerial surveys of Long Island: The Fairchild Aerial Survey Collection in the New York State Archives. Hundreds of aerials from the 1940s and 1950s can be enlarged and printed out. Of course the real challenge is finding the Motor Parkway. (1 comments)

Dec 08 2009
Driver Profile: Victor Hemery- The 1905 Vanderbilt Cup Race Winner

Revised: October 31, 2010 Victor (August) Hemery was born in Sillé-le-Guillaume, a small town in La Sarthe, about 22 miles northwest from Le Mans, on November 18, 1876 He became a seaman as a young man, but was drawn to auto racing. His first appearance in motor racing was in the "Circuit du Nord" (Paris/Arras/Paris) held on May 15, 1902. His first significant result was 8th overall in Paris/Vienna (June 26 to 29, 1902). His first participation in the "Circuit des Ardennes" (Belgium) was in… (0 comments)

Dec 07 2009
The Bridges of the Vanderbilt Cup Races (1908-1910)

A unique feature of the last three Vanderbilt Cup Races held on Long Island were the new Motor Parkway bridges. For the 1908 race, the course included 16 new bridges over a 9-mile parkway section from East Meadow to Bethpage. (8 comments)

Dec 05 2009
Film “The 1904 Vanderbilt Cup Race Course”

The course for the first Vanderbilt Cup Race in 1904 covered 30.24 miles of public roads in the center of Long Island. This 10-minute film documents the course using some of my favorite photos and clips from the American Biograph & Mutoscope film of the race. (1 comments)

Dec 04 2009
VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive: Rare View of a Vanderbilt Cup Race in Bethpage

As a follow-up to our recent discussion of the public roads of the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race, I recently acquired a copy of this rare photo of a Vanderbilt Cup Race...which came with no captions or notes. I have seen thousands of photos of my favorite races, but never from this location. It was my task to identify the action for the copyright holder. Here goes: (3 comments)

Dec 04 2009
The Planned Fresh Meadows Motor Parkway Western Terminus in 1912

As noted in earlier posts, the final western terminus of the Long Island Motor Parkway was located at the Nassau Boulevard intersection in Fresh Meadows. However, a review of original Motor Parkway survey maps indicate that this was not the original plan. (5 comments)

Dec 02 2009
November 2009 Highlights on VanderbiltCupRaces.com

VanderbiltCupRaces.com recorded it third highest monthly in its two-year history with 2,851 unique viewers in November, an average of 95 daily viewers. For the first 11 months of 2009, a total of 28,644 viewers have visited VanderbiltCupRaces.com, a 83% increase over 2008. (0 comments)

Dec 01 2009
A New Website Favorite- Horseless Carriage Foundation

If you research automobiles or auto racing history from 1895 to 1922, you should consider becoming a member of the Horseless Carriage Foundation. (0 comments)

Nov 28 2009
Louis Chevrolet and the End of the Long Island Vanderbilt Cup Races

Chevrolet’s steely-eyed focus shown in 1905 and 1908 was noted by William Durant, chairman of General Motors, who wanted to promote Buicks through auto racing. By 1909 Durant hired both Louis and younger brother Arthur. Both worked on the cars, but Louis joined Lewis Strang and Bob Burman, men with all-out driving styles similar to Chevrolet, as teammates. (0 comments)