Vanderbilt Cup Races

Identify the race(s) and its date: The Motor Parkway Sweepstakes and the Jericho Sweepstakes on Oct. 10, 1908 (opening day of the Motor Parkway). 

Identify the drivers and race cars in the photos:  WR Burns driving a Chalmers-Detroit (nearest camera) and Herb Lytle driving an Isotta.

What is the exact location of the photo? View from Plainview Motor Parkway Bridge looking west, approx. 1/2 mile north of Powell Ave.

What is the structure at the beginning of the curve? Water Storage tank, well and pumping station.

From Mystery Foto #16 Solved: Two Winning Racers at the Plainview Road Curve in Bethpage

The 2 “bicycles” together appear to be 1909 Indian 5 horsepower twin light motorcycles.  Note the torpedo-style gas tank underneath the upper frame rail, and probably green factory paint with “Indian” logo in center of the tank.  The loop frame holding the engine was new in 1909.

From Amazing Photos of the Alco Black Beast During the 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race

This photo was taken on October 10, 1908 and shows two racers competing in separate yet simultaneous events. In the rear you have Herb Lytle driving the P42 Isotta during the Motor Parkway Sweepstakes appearing about to overtake W.R. Burns in the J11 Chalmers-Detroit (foreground) running in the Jericho Sweepstakes. Amazingly, both drivers won their respective races. The photo was taken looking west towards Central Park (Bethpage) from the top of the Plainview Road Bridge. I think the structure is a water storage tank that had been built during construction of the LIMP since the crew had to provide their own water for concrete mixing and dug their own wells.

From Mystery Foto #16 Solved: Two Winning Racers at the Plainview Road Curve in Bethpage

The race is the 1908 Motor Parkway sweepstakes.

The J11 in the Jericho Sweepstakes class is a Chalmers-Detroit driven by Burns.
The #(P)42 is the Isotta of Herb Little in the Parkway Sweepstakes.

Both finished first in their respective classes.

As for location it appears there’s a 50/50 chance of me guessing one of two spots….I will guess….the west side of the race course on the LIMP. Which would mean the road shooting off straight is headed west back to NYC.  (The other curve would be the most eastern point of the LIMP on the course which would have the straight road going south)

It appears a crowd is gathered in sight of the billboard looking item which I will guess was a scoreboard updated by telephone, as noted there is a toll lodge and telephone nearby, but lines would still have to have been brought to the sign board I believe. 

As always I learn something and usually guess…....poorly.  But still enjoy it.

From Mystery Foto #16 Solved: Two Winning Racers at the Plainview Road Curve in Bethpage

October 10, 1908 the Motor Parkway Sweepstakes
The J-11 Chalmers driven by W. Burns and the P-42 Isotta with H.  Lyle (winner)
The view is looking west from on top of the Plainview Road bridge in Bethpage.
The structure on the curve looks like a water pumping station and tank.

From Mystery Foto #16 Solved: Two Winning Racers at the Plainview Road Curve in Bethpage

Omg!!got to get this one,seen this so many times,it almost seems too easy. We’ll see.

From Mystery Foto #16 Solved: Two Winning Racers at the Plainview Road Curve in Bethpage

I’m sure you enjoy the map work, Frank. Thankyou for your conciseness overall.

From The Motor Parkway Toll Collection Structures: #17 The Brentwood Lodge at Commack Spur Road

Thanks for adding me to the kudos Howard

From Mystery Foto #15 Solved: Motor Parkway Parking Space Adjacent to Long Island Aviation Country Club

You don’t have to accept my comment, Howard.I’m going to answer my previous question. After viewing enough clear aerials of the aviation club, I’ve either seen sporadic guardrail sections, or none at all. The ROW posts are consistent. So, maybe LIMP guardrailing wasn’t of great importance near the clubs property. I believe the club was operational about a decade after the LIMPS closing? The guardrails slowly and surely deterioted. If I come across some cryptic photo of the LIMP, I surely submit it as a new mystery.

From Mystery Foto #15 Solved: Motor Parkway Parking Space Adjacent to Long Island Aviation Country Club

Now we can see all the “krooze’ nights,to take a run. I do go tot Riverhead,nice setting and Meschutt Beach.Hampton Bay’s Great time ,great cars and people

From 2019 Long Island Cruises (Updated: July 26, 2019)

Always seeing myself as a “curious apprentice” of the LIMP and other history, would someone mind answering my own question? I see now that the “openings in the guard rails ” weren’t “access gates” for the club members, but temporary openings for parking. Does the appearance of no guard railing continuation well East and West of the LIMP have anything to do with the parking accommodations?

From Mystery Foto #15 Solved: Motor Parkway Parking Space Adjacent to Long Island Aviation Country Club

So,I got something out of it,parking on both side of the road,not bad ha.Thanks for the rest of the info you gave guys.
__________________________________________

From Howard Kroplick

Good job, Ted! I added you in the kudos!!

From Mystery Foto #15 Solved: Motor Parkway Parking Space Adjacent to Long Island Aviation Country Club

From Gary Hammond:

Here’s my Hammond’s Historical Happenings on this photo:

The Long Island Aviation Country Club was officially dedicated on June 29, 1929 at Hicksville.  Forty aircraft would be kept at the field.  Although there wasn’t an “official” entrance from the LIMP to the LIACC, it doesn’t surprise me that an “unofficial” entrance might have existed.  With prominent aviation personalities such as Charles L. Lawrence and Chance Vought serving as President and Secretary-Treasurer, along with charter members such as Amelia Earhart, Charles A. Lindbergh, Major Alexander de Seversky, publisher James M. Patterson, his daughter Alicia Patterson, John Hays Whitney, Harry Guggenheim, and Grover Loening, one would believe that a few strings could be pulled to provide access to the Club from the LIMP, especially on special occasions!

Although the New York Times reported on June 29, 1929 that the U.S. Navy dirigible Los Angeles flown by Commander Charles E. Rosendahl , Chief of the lighter-than-air branch of the Naval Air Service, would fly up from Lakehurst, N.J., “and dip the giant ship over the club grounds”, I doubt that this photo was taken then.  Why?  The profile of the LTA (lighter than air) ship is probably not of a large rigid airship, such as the 658 ft. long dirigible Los Angeles, but that of a smaller non-rigid blimp, such as the 128 ft. Vigilant, which was christened on June 25, 1929, and crashed November 20, 1930.  Also the landscaping around the LIACC clubhouse seems “grown” and showing much wear – something which I doubt would have looked that way opening day.  Also notice the shape and proportion of the fins at the rear of the ship; more like a blimp (see photos).
Unless the photo is actually dated, I would guess the occasion shown took place a year later, on Sunday, June 8, 1930, when it was reported that 500 members of the LIACC attended an air meet at the field.  As reported in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle a number of the members were taken up for flights in the Goodyear blimp Vigilant, which had arrived from Aberdeen, Maryland.

This would not be the only time that a Goodyear blimp would stop and call Long Island home in the early 1930’s.  The following year the Goodyear blimp Columbia spent the fall of 1931 cruising around N.Y.C. and L.I., and taking up passengers.  It was first listed on September 20, 1931 as being based at Grand Central Air Terminal (aka Holmes Airport), Jackson Heights, Queens (opened March 16, 1929).  Among the times specifically mentioned when Nassau residents might have seen the blimp flying close by was on Saturday, October 17th, when a “Great Four-Field Flying Circus” took place between Floyd-Bennett Field (Brooklyn) / Roosevelt Field / Curtiss-Wright Field (Valley Stream) / and Glenn Curtiss Field (aka North Beach, Jackson Heights, Queens).  It could have been seen again on December 21, 1931, when the Columbia visited Roosevelt Field.  Unfortunately, on Saturday, February 13, 1932, the blimp crashed, ending its L.I. visit.

I’ve attached 3 images I got off the web:
• comparison size and shapes of USN airships, including the Los Angeles and a blimp (lower image)
• the Goodyear Blimp Vigilant
• and a Goodyear blimp at Holmes airport (see Abandoned & Little- Known Airfields)

Hope I’m right,

Gary Hammond

From Mystery Foto #15 Solved: Motor Parkway Parking Space Adjacent to Long Island Aviation Country Club

Hello all. This isn’t as difficult as last weeks mystery, but I’m not so sure of my proposed answer. I believe this aerial photo was taken after the LIMPS closing. I’m assuming the aviation club modified the guardrails on the north and south side of the LIMP with a “swinggate” so the members could access the club property. It also appears that the guard rails don’t continue west and east of each swinggate? While perusing thru the AIRFIELDS-FREEMAN website, there is a paragraph mentioning a “stratosphere laboratory plane & good year blimps” attracting crowds in The Long Island Aviation Club property. The shadow of a blimp is obvious in the mystery photo, and I read that airships are ideal for aerial photography because of their relative slowness. Photo date 1939. I have don’t have an answer for the homebase or operator of the dirigible. You really do find some great photos, Frank.

From Mystery Foto #15 Solved: Motor Parkway Parking Space Adjacent to Long Island Aviation Country Club

Since Willie K. directed that no Motor Parkway entrance to the airfield be permitted, the entrance may have been made after the closing of the parkway.  Documentation also points to the airfield having 3 Goodyear blimps in 1939, so I’ll guess that to be the year.

From Mystery Foto #15 Solved: Motor Parkway Parking Space Adjacent to Long Island Aviation Country Club

Willie K opposed to LIACC access from the parkway, but here we are, BUSTED! Everyone caught red-handed and all license plates recorded on camera. Send in the paddy wagon. Originally, I didn’t think of a ‘special day’ but that makes more sense. I have a hunch the blimp’s presence could be for opening day at the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadow’s Park’s Valley of the Ashes, one year after the Motor Parkway closed.  The LIACC airfield could’ve been used as a refueling station for the blimp. The field was large enough and accommodating.
Two unresolved problems with this theory;
1. Why not use the original airport road for access from Jerusalem Rd instead?
2. The missing tennis court adjacent to the country club building shows no sign of demolition. The grass appears greener than ever. Could this photo been taken at LIACC’s opening in 1929, before the tennis court installation, and the Motor Parkway still open for business? Nah, I’m going with my first theory

From Mystery Foto #15 Solved: Motor Parkway Parking Space Adjacent to Long Island Aviation Country Club

Sorry to chime in so late - missed this one.  That’s no Dodge; Dodge radiator shells did not “dip” in the top middle, under the badge.  Model A Fords did but that’s no A.  The badge appears to be that of a Chevy; 1927 Chevys had that dip!  Your so-called Chevy appears to have a Buick badge.  The actual key to the ID is the distinctive small notch in the shell/hood edge, like Packard or Chrysler Imperial 80 or Star, but far smaller.  I do believe we have a 1925 Buick there.  Unrelated to the cars, my Dad watched a huge stone RC church being picked up bodily, swung around 180°, and moved northwest across Hoffman/Queens Blvd. in that general area ca. 1914.  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #14 Solved: A Motor Parkway Sign at Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue Circa 1928

Just for comparison, the Nassau County 1926/1950/2000 aerial photos are at http://sbiii.com/limpnaer.html and my original 2005 proposal for the LIMP Row trail is at http://sbiii.com/limpncpk.html .  Sprague had it easy!  Sam, III

From The 1944 Proposal for "A Nassau County Park at Salisbury" in East Meadow

Second thought - Goodyear blimp that overflew 1939-40 World’s Fair?  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #15 Solved: Motor Parkway Parking Space Adjacent to Long Island Aviation Country Club

Oops!  Wrong link - the entrance image is on my Central Nassau page, http://www.sbiii.com/limpcnas.html, which IS posted.  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #15 Solved: Motor Parkway Parking Space Adjacent to Long Island Aviation Country Club