Vanderbilt Cup Races

That’s Willie K. in his 90 HP Mercedes that he had ordered in 1903 and was delivered in January, 1904. The location is on the beach between Ormond and Daytona, Florida. The date is probably January 27, 1904. Around this time, Willie K. set several land speed records most notably for the fastest one mile which had recently been established by Henry Ford. I believe the mechanician could be Robert Charles Watson who was from Rochester, NY, was a bank president and had investment interests in railroads, which could be the Vanderbilt connection. His initials are on one attached photo which appears to have been taken at the same time. The other attached photo identifies a R. C. Watson as having been at the 1908 V. C. Races. Both photos show a person who appears to resemble the mystery mechanician.

From Mystery Foto #35 Solved: Robert C. Watson, Jr. was Willie K's mechanician at the 1904 Ormond Daytona Tournament

W. K. Vanderbilt set a new world one mile record at Ormond Beach January 26, 1904 driving a 90 HP Mercedes with a time of 39 seconds.
Vanderbilt lowered Henry Ford’s January 12, 1904 record of .39 2-5 on frozen Lake St. Clair.
Of interest is the official timing.  Vanderbilt and Ford both used regulation timing rather than the Mors timing instrument.  Regulation timing used stop watches and the start line and finish line and the times averaged and subtracted.

From Mystery Foto #35 Solved: Robert C. Watson, Jr. was Willie K's mechanician at the 1904 Ormond Daytona Tournament

Al - you’re right! Let me start with mileage;

The Commack Spur measurement by Google Earth satellite still matches at 2.10 mi. 
I originally measured the 45.4 mi. LIMP length from Nassau Blvd to the Petit Trianon circle. That was a mistake.
After adjustments, the new measurements from Nassau Blvd to the Ronkonkoma lodge measured at 45.01 miles.  I don’t have an answer for the one-mile discrepancy.

Al, you’re correct again. There were still three existent lodges at the time of the article, which were modified into something else; Great Neck, Mineola, and Ronkonkoma. Great info as always Al! Thank you. 

From Greg O's Garage; Newsday's Big Apple Almanac Part 2

Frank, Regarding inaccuracies in the Newsday Cartoon Series, there are a couple in the 9/17/95 issue. Pope was responsible for just the first six lodges, not twelve. Also, besides the Roslyn and Garden City lodges still standing in 1995, there were at least three others, right ?

From Greg O's Garage; Newsday's Big Apple Almanac Part 2

Frank, On May 12, 1936,  Kienzle, in a letter to the financier Ivor B. Clark, states the Parkway is exactly 44 miles long and the Commack spur is 2.1 miles in length making for a total of 46.1 miles.

From Greg O's Garage; Newsday's Big Apple Almanac Part 2

-The driver and his automobile

Willie K. In his 1903 90hp Daimler

-The location

Ormond Beach Florida

-The approximate date

Sometime between January 28, 1904 to February 1, 1904 when the Ormond Beach contests were held.

-What is significant about this automobile?

Willie K. broke the one-mile land speed record going 92.3 mph at Ormond in 1904

-Kudos question- I do not have an answer.
Identify the mechanician. Hint: His initials are R.C.W., Jr. Provide the rationale for your answer.

We may never know. There was never much information or reporting on mechanicians back then. I reached out to Dan Smith, former Vice-President of the board of directors for the Ormond Beach Historical Society and The Motor Racing Heritage Association, and even he was unsure of the individuals’ identity, but did mention he will look into it further.

From Mystery Foto #35 Solved: Robert C. Watson, Jr. was Willie K's mechanician at the 1904 Ormond Daytona Tournament

I don’t know off hand but guessing it’s Willie K (after!) driving his 1-mile-speed-breaker Mercedes in Ormand, Fl. It looks like a beach-front environment (Willie K is facing the ocean here in the racer). I can’t identify the mechanician though. His face is clearly displayed in the photo. Anticipating this week’s answers that might identify the mechanician. Standing by. Great photo!

From Mystery Foto #35 Solved: Robert C. Watson, Jr. was Willie K's mechanician at the 1904 Ormond Daytona Tournament

Willie K. in his 90 HP Mercedes. 
Ormond Beach, FL
Sometime between Jan. 26 and Jan. 31, 1904.
Significant features:
A wicker driver’s seat
No fenders
A low mechanician’s seat
One hood strap
Oil tank on mechanician’s side
Horn on the left side
Bracket in front of mechanician’s position
No chain guards
This Mercedes was engraved on the Vanderbilt Cup trophy.
Kudos: R.C.W. Jr. are the initials of Robert C. Watson, Jr., a friend of Willie K. from LI and a prominent golfer of the time.  He accompanied Willie to Ormond and participated in the car’s test runs.  Based on Brooklyn Daily Eagle and NY Times articles of the time.

From Mystery Foto #35 Solved: Robert C. Watson, Jr. was Willie K's mechanician at the 1904 Ormond Daytona Tournament

WOW! Amazing Newsday cartoon articles that included accurate events of the Vanderbilt Cup Races on Long Island. I missed this in the ‘90s. I now know why. Great post Greg, thank you and Al for sharing these gems. I began looking for any inaccuracies but could not find any except the length of the parkway. I still believe it was a 45.4 mi. length, end-to-end, not including the Jericho spur (connecting Motor Pkwy to the Jericho Tpke entrance). Great post guys
‘’

From Greg O's Garage; Newsday's Big Apple Almanac Part 2

I obviously had a comprehension issue on this one! I was mentally stuck on Birdie’s father.

From Mystery Foto #34 Solved: Willie K in his 1900 Daimler White Ghost at the Brookholt Estate in East Meadow

You forwarded that mystery foto Ernie, courtesy of Tim Lavey. The real remedy for the flooding problem was Basins. That photo clearly shows the LIMP ROW higher than the surrounding ground back then. Know the ROW was filled in along this stretch, except where catch basins were dug out.

From Kleiner's Korner: What Became of the Vanderbilt Cup Race Grandstand?

Ernie - You recall the roadway being lower than the surrounding ground. A past mystery foto/blog of Levittown speaks of flooding from the LIMP ROW towards the newly built homes in the 1950’s ( so good drainage system road wise ). The ROW was eventually filled on both sides of the roadway to stop the flooding.

From Kleiner's Korner: What Became of the Vanderbilt Cup Race Grandstand?

Mystery Foto# 34… Automobile is a 1900 Daimler Phoenix called the “White Ghost” by owner Willie K. One of the cars records was that it cut in half the speed record for driving from Newport to Boston. The driver shown here was William K Vanderbilt II. Photo taken in 1900. Can’t figure out where the pic was shot.

From Mystery Foto #34 Solved: Willie K in his 1900 Daimler White Ghost at the Brookholt Estate in East Meadow

Those large gas tanks were normally set up for cars that were for road racing or 24 hour racing. Most vintage racers use fuel cells now [ much safer

From A first look inside and under the 1962 Holman Moody Challenger III

An additional article regarding the improvements made to the ROW of the Motor Parkway between Carmen Avenue and Newbridge Road.  Prior to this barricades shut the ROW for two decades.  (NY Daily News Sept. 18, 1955)

From Kleiner's Korner: Removal of the (Old) Westbury Road Motor Parkway Bridge in East Meadow

Thanks for the comments regarding this post.  The Levittown area holds special interest to me as I lived 38 years very close to where the Motor Parkway was.  I’m even wearing my “Love It Long Island” t-shirt now, which a former employer used to promote Long Island.  Regardless of where I am I’ll never lose the connection to where I’m from. 

Dave - I have a whole file on the issues surrounding why the area was never developed until recently.  But to make a long story short:
1.  I’m not sure why Levitt did not purchase the land, but I’m sure someone out there knows. 
2.  There’s been reports of a sweet-heart deal made between Nassau County and a proposed developer in the 1970s that transferred ownership into private hands.
3.  After the developer and others who eventually bought the property proposed development, they found out that zoning requirements prohibited them from moving ahead with their plans.
4.  These zoning requirements were enacted at the time of Levittown’s formation and were in effect for 25 years.  Following their expiration in 1975 Levittown residents proposed to the Town of Hempstead that they be incorporated into what is now called the “Levittown Planned Residential District”, zoning requirements specifically for Levittown aimed at keeping the local character of the area.  Some of these requirements were stricter than those of the Town but are part of the Town Buillding Code and were very hard for developers to meet as numerous court challenges have shown.
5.  As times changed,however and the need for further housing on Long Island increased (as well as more tax revenue needed) the Town has okayed the development of the Levittown Motor Parkway site. 

Hope this helps.

From Kleiner's Korner: What Became of the Vanderbilt Cup Race Grandstand?

1900 23 h.p. Daimler Phoenix, Newport racing. 
Willie K. driving the “White Ghost” in 1901
Photo taken at Brookholt in Hempstead, Long Island.

From Mystery Foto #34 Solved: Willie K in his 1900 Daimler White Ghost at the Brookholt Estate in East Meadow

Dave - I’m not from Levittown but likely a provision was in place for many years to prevent future building on the LIMP RoW (LILCO did not obtain this particular stretch, nor Levitt could build on it during his massive project in the ‘40s). Jasco and others somehow managed to overcome the restriction and history was then lost forever, against local resident’s petitions.

From Kleiner's Korner: What Became of the Vanderbilt Cup Race Grandstand?

Great post Art. You’re doing an amazing job in LIMP research in your retirement! You missed your calling. You could have been a private investigator.

I guess in 1912 nobody questioned the historical aspect of things - it was just as simple as hey rip this down and give me some money. This could have been such an amazing historical location. Remaining bridges are now preserved as landmarks and that is fantastic, but imagine if the GRANSTAND remnants were still there?

Not sure if this video from 2016 will load, but this is the exact location of the grandstand and as you can see, nothing remains.

The video did not load - too big, but it was posted on our 2016 Vanderbilt Day story if anyone wants to go back and see that. I replaced the video with Pic #1 which is the construction of the houses in 2015 at the grandstand site

Pic #2 is one of the posts that remained - in 2016 - not sure if it’s still there.

Pic #3 is a sign, Nassau Cty is very good at this - they tear everything down and remove history, but stick a sign there telling everyone that something historical WAS here, but not here anymore. This sign had weeds all over it a few years ago, Sam and I cleaned it all off - a neighbor there asked us what we were doing, we told him the history that he didn’t know even though he lived right on top of it.

It’s funny how for over 100 years they didn’t build houses at this location. Does anyone know WHY that would be? Levittown is a build to the brim, but for some reason this spot didn’t get houses built on it until 2015 or so? Were they ever considering preserving / doing anything here?

From Kleiner's Korner: What Became of the Vanderbilt Cup Race Grandstand?

Willie K exiting his mansion driveway on a cold winter’s day, with dirt road still in front of him at his property; the same reason for his goal for road improvements throughout Long Island at the time.

The four-seater is likely a Mercedes. Nothing else compared in quality at the time. That’s why he preferred them.

From Mystery Foto #34 Solved: Willie K in his 1900 Daimler White Ghost at the Brookholt Estate in East Meadow