Vanderbilt Cup Races

Austin was a very important part of my husband’s and my life when we were organizing the 1981 Glidden Tour on the Island for AACA.  I found a trophy of James Melton’s(past AACA Pres) in the loft in one of the Buildings at the L.I. Auto Museum.  Austin donated it to us and we had a trophy made for the tour. It remains at the National headquarters in Hershey .

From Film of the Week: The 1990 Testimonial Dinner for Henry Austin Clark, Jr.

Without any research, I’d guess it’s Louis Chevrolet - further deponent sayeth not.  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #95 Solved: Louis Chevrolet and Joe Nelson Preparing for the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Ha Greg O, you’re so right about that, along with so many questions could be asked with unsolved answers and I didn’t even finish looking at them yet, which I will do by the end of the week, just in case there’s a mystery about them for this weekend

From Favorite Website: A Treasure of 34,407 Automotive Photos Posted Online

Mystery photo #95 is Louis Chevrolet at the wheel of a Matheson that ran in the 1908 vanderbilt cup race.

From Mystery Foto #95 Solved: Louis Chevrolet and Joe Nelson Preparing for the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race

A Treasure of 34,407 mystery photos!

From Favorite Website: A Treasure of 34,407 Automotive Photos Posted Online

mystery photo #95 is Louis Chevrolet in the #15 Buick, that ran the 1909 Vanderbilt cup race.

From Mystery Foto #95 Solved: Louis Chevrolet and Joe Nelson Preparing for the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Wow! Lots of work went into this. Nice catch Howard.

From Favorite Website: A Treasure of 34,407 Automotive Photos Posted Online

Driver: Louis Chevrolet
Mechanician: Joe Nelson
#15 Matheson, cracked a cylinder on lap 2, finished 16/17 entrants.
1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race, Long Island. In 1909, the 15 was painted differently.

Other Matheson (#7) 60hp, caught fire on lap 4 in front of the grandstand, finished 12/17.
Driver: Jim Ryall
Mechanician: Roy Hook

From Mystery Foto #95 Solved: Louis Chevrolet and Joe Nelson Preparing for the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race

The driver is Louis Chevrolet, driving a Chevrolet, or maybe a Peug…..?

From Mystery Foto #95 Solved: Louis Chevrolet and Joe Nelson Preparing for the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Howard, Thanks so much for this tip. This is a really amazing collection! I knew parts of it were online, but this is really fantastic and besides, the resolution of the pictures has much improved. I already spotted some real treasures, so I guess all my spare time for the coming months has been spent in advance. However I’m afraid, there is one person in the house, who will probably not be as delighted as I am 😉

From Favorite Website: A Treasure of 34,407 Automotive Photos Posted Online

Excellent collection

From Favorite Website: A Treasure of 34,407 Automotive Photos Posted Online

I put it on the north side based on the shadow.

From Mystery Foto #94 Solved: The Stymus Farmway Underpass of the Motor Parkway's Longest Bridge

Those eyes can only belong to Louis Chevrolet. I think he is in his 1909 Buick Marquette racer, which appears from photos to have an enclosed driveshaft, not chain, drive system. I can’t see enough of the mechanic, but it may be his brother Arthur, who joined the Buick racing team with Louis in March of 1909. This car raced successfully in various events, especially in 1909, before The Chevrolets joined Wm Durant and Little in the Chevrolet automobile.  When Durant wanted Louis to sanction a cheaper Chevrolet, he left the company, and Durant used the stock he had purchased to help him regain control of GM.

From Mystery Foto #95 Solved: Louis Chevrolet and Joe Nelson Preparing for the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Driver: Louis Chevrolet
Mechanic: Joe Nelson
Racer:  Matheson
Race: 1908 Vanderbilt Cup

From Mystery Foto #95 Solved: Louis Chevrolet and Joe Nelson Preparing for the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Howard,
I know I speak for many in saying how much we appreciate your continued efforts at uncovering, preserving and sharing our motorsports heritage.

From Favorite Website: A Treasure of 34,407 Automotive Photos Posted Online

I don’t know , but this seemed easy to me. I knew the car #, which is 5, then the driver has a mustache, so that’s two things going for me, then to match up the mechanician with the driver, which was just process of elimination. At first I thought it was Louis Chevrolet, but the mechanician didn’t match, then four more tries, no luck, then finally, this is it,, I’m going with it right or wrong, They say always go with your first thought, Driver: Joe Tracy Mechanician: Al Poole, Racer: Locomobile. Participated in the American Eliminations time trials. I’m going to add a few more things to this. Came in second and was selected for the American Team also participated in 5 races 1904-1906. All this, something got to be right

From Mystery Foto #95 Solved: Louis Chevrolet and Joe Nelson Preparing for the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Howard and Al, It was wonderful tribute Henry Austin Clark Jr. A person who was very knowledgeable about cars and one of the first people to research The Motor Parkway His good friend Lester Cutting would of thought it great. There should be something written about Mr Cutting. Because years ago he also was a collector and research The Motor Parkway like Mr Clark. Keep up the good work

From An Amazing Evening: "A Tribute to Henry Austin Clark, Jr. and the Long Island Automotive Museum"

-Identify the driver and mechanician

Louis Chevrolet and Mechanician Joe Nelson

-Identify the racer

#15 Buick

-Identify the Vanderbilt Cup Race in which this racer participated

1909

From Mystery Foto #95 Solved: Louis Chevrolet and Joe Nelson Preparing for the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Getting back to what I was saying earlier. It was good to see familiar people, never expected to see Marty Himes and MR. Jaffee. That just goes to show how many go on your website and are interested in what you do for a good cause to keep the history of long island and the motor parkway moving.

From An Amazing Evening: "A Tribute to Henry Austin Clark, Jr. and the Long Island Automotive Museum"

My sincere thanks to all who attended . Special thanks to Al and Howard for inviting us to attend and talk about our great friend Austin Clark. It was very nice to see so many people from the Southampton Fire Dept. there, Craig, Amy, and also Lance Aldrich who with his late Dad, Eddie were a fixture at the L.I. A. M.
I appreciate my friends in the Long Island Buick Club who promoted the event on their web site as well, and to Dave, Joanne, Marty, Frank, Marc, Debbie, Theresa, and Dennis for being there that night. Continue to support the Long Island Motor Parkway Preservation Society by telling your friends about it, and invite them to the next meeting.  Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

From An Amazing Evening: "A Tribute to Henry Austin Clark, Jr. and the Long Island Automotive Museum"