Vanderbilt Cup Races

Looks like it was an interesting day. Sorry that due to a family emergency I was unable to be there but I’m hoping to do it the next time. Thanks for the invite Art. You have my cell number!

From The Second 2016 Kleiner Tour of the Long Island Motor Parkway

Great vid guys. This is first educational and entertaining as well. THANK YOU. It gives a more realistic view of what is really inside. Cant wait to explore it myself. Keep it up!

From Sam & Dave's Excellent Lost Motor Parkway Adventure II: Wheeler Farmway Bridge in Queens

What seems certain is that the racer is a Fiat S74 with Barney Oldfield at the wheel. The location wouId be Santa Monica, but I found two dates, 1911 and 1914. 1912 seems to make more sense, because Oldfield started in that race on a Fiat S74 and I have a picture of him wearing a Select Kid Maier overall during the race, but the text on the car seems to be absent. So I’m not sure.
The Fiat S74 was first used during the American Grand Prize of 1911, but was officially designed for the French Grand Prix of 1911, which never took place.

From Mystery Foto#50 Solved:The 1911 FIAT S74 Driven by Barney Oldfield in the May 1912 Santa Monica Race

Sam III - I remember Eddie Murray, he was a heck of a first baseman!

Yes, we went through the south side, you are correct. Three is a small opening on the north side that Sammy could struggle through, but why bother? The south opening is not exactly big by any stretch, but you can get on your back and wiggle through.

But certainly once you get in there and get down a little bit you can surely walk around under there, as you can see from the video. I’m 6’1” and was walking around no problem.

From Sam & Dave's Excellent Lost Motor Parkway Adventure II: Wheeler Farmway Bridge in Queens

This is a 1911 S-74 FIAT that was owned by Ed Maier of the Maier Brewery in Los Angeles.  He owned many of the cars that Barney Oldfield raced. Maier Select is the name of a Beer be brewed.  It’s significance is obvious as being an overhead cam monster.

From Mystery Foto#50 Solved:The 1911 FIAT S74 Driven by Barney Oldfield in the May 1912 Santa Monica Race

I keep worrying that Roosevelt Field shopping Center Development will mess with this portion of the Parkway.

From Sam & Dave’s Excellent “Lost” Motor Parkway Adventure III:General Manager's Office

What an adventure….I really enjoy the series . Thanks for taking the time…

From Sam & Dave’s Excellent “Lost” Motor Parkway Adventure III:General Manager's Office

Funny, I think back now and the late Stuart Klonis director of the league for more than fifty years once offered me his black with white interior 1960 thunderbird convertible that he kept in a barn at the Woodstock campus. I did not have the space to store it, my 1970 Mustang Fastback and a company car. It was a beauty but it was not the performance type vehicles that I enjoyed at that stage of my life.

From The Peter Helck Scholarship in Realism Established at the The Arts Students League of New York

Students at the League have been very diverse. From abstractionist Jackson Pollick to realist Norman Rockwell have attended the ASL. Many pulp fiction cover designers came from the School in the forties and fifties. Probabably the most famous being Everett Raymond Kinstler who also painted portraits of presidents, astronauts and other well known personalities.  I myself was a student there. The school prides itself on painting the human form from life. Most classes have a live model. George Bridgeman a past League instructor of anatomy wrote a famous instructional book titled the Human Machine what I would consider the perfect link between the Art Students League and Peter Helck’s illustrative work. The illustrations in Bridgeman’s book interpret physical anatomy as metal parts of a machine.

In the mid 1970s is was on the Board of Control (Board of Directors) and served as Men’s Vice-President for one year.

From The Peter Helck Scholarship in Realism Established at the The Arts Students League of New York

Sure looks like a 1908 FIAT S79, a baby brother to the 1908 FIAT SB4 “Mephistoles” land speed record car.  The S79 set a record of 290 km/h (181¼ mph) on LI in 1912 (I find this rather hard to believe).  Beyond that, without doing some homework, deponent sayeth not.  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto#50 Solved:The 1911 FIAT S74 Driven by Barney Oldfield in the May 1912 Santa Monica Race

Are you sure Sammy went in on the north side?  When I was there back on 03 May 2008 with Ed Murray, <http://sbiii.com/limp-qn3.html#wheeler>, there wasn’t room on the north side for anyone, not even Sammy, to crawl through, nor could one stand up inside after crawling in on the south side.  Love your posts.  The “other” Sam, III

From Sam & Dave's Excellent Lost Motor Parkway Adventure II: Wheeler Farmway Bridge in Queens

My feeble, incomplete guesses!
-Identify the make and year of the racer
1911 FIAT S74
-Why was this racer historically significant?
Raced in Santa Monica. “Select Kid” on the hood was the first time something other than an auto maker name billboarded a Southern California race car
-Who was the owner of the racer when the photo was taken?
Unsure.
-What was Maier Select?
LA-based Maier Brewery whose Maier Select was its featured brew
-Identify at least one person in the photo
Barney Oldfield driving. You can see his cigar coming through his mask!
-Link this racer to the Vanderbilt Cup Races
I think this raced in the 1914 Santa Monica Vanderbilt Cup Race

From Mystery Foto#50 Solved:The 1911 FIAT S74 Driven by Barney Oldfield in the May 1912 Santa Monica Race

Great shots Dave, Sammy, and Howard. Boy, that new Clinton Rd underpass pic still continues to prove the treacherous underpass as it was. I still would’ve love the bridge to remain intact today as it was. Really shame to see it go.

From Sam & Dave’s Excellent “Lost” Motor Parkway Adventure III:General Manager's Office

Ron, your story is as good as it gets! Please send any pictures to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) so everyone can view this historic transformation. Any photos while living at the lodge would be most educational for all. Overall, these photos would be priceless to be seen, thanks to you.

From The Motor Parkway Toll Collection Structures: #12 Bethpage Lodge Updated 3/13/2017

A marvellous and generous gesture which, as well as giving financial help to an art student, will keep the name and hopefully the work of Peter Helck alive.

From The Peter Helck Scholarship in Realism Established at the The Arts Students League of New York

Great idea. In an era when the nature of art can be confusing, thank you for recognizing the value of realism and sharing all the great work and accomplishments of Peter Helck.

From The Peter Helck Scholarship in Realism Established at the The Arts Students League of New York

It is 12 motor lane I used to live there. There is or was a mound in front of the house that marked the spot. My mom told my the old motor parkway toll house used to be there. They butchered the trees off motor lane. Sad it used to be more shady. Any way I have pictures of the land the circled house was built on before it was built from the backyard of 12 motor lane back in the early 70s. It was all woods I remember when they tore it all down and built the house there. The house circled is on roud swamp it was built in the mid to lates 70s my parents bought 12motor lane in the early 70s and there was one previous owner. I remember older folks in the neighborhood would tell me this was all farmland when we moved out here. The neighborhood still looks nice just less trees.

From The Motor Parkway Toll Collection Structures: #12 Bethpage Lodge Updated 3/13/2017

I think that’s a FIAT S74, possibly built in 1910. Not sure of the significance but it could be the same car that raced in the 1912 VCR as car #29 driven by Teddy Tetzlaff and car #9 in the 1914 VCR driven by Frank Verbeck. The owner of the car was Eddie Maier, a Los Angeles businessman and I believe the date of the photo is 1914. Maier also owned a brewery and “Maier Select” was one of his products. I think the driver in the photo is Barney Oldfield who competed in both the 1914 and 1915 Vanderbilt Cup races.

From Mystery Foto#50 Solved:The 1911 FIAT S74 Driven by Barney Oldfield in the May 1912 Santa Monica Race

A detail not written in the book is that he was the rider mechanic of Vincenzo Lancia in the 1903 Paris-Madrid race. This was the very first international race he took part, followed by the Ardennes Circuit one month later - but this time, as official FIAT driver. In the belgian race he arrived 3rd (not 2nd) in the light car class, 10th overall.
Sad note: Alessandro committed suicide two days after his wife’s death, at age of 88.

From Driver of the Week: Alessandro Cagno (1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race)

Identify the make and year of the racer: 1912 Fiat

Why was this racer historically significant?  First racer to have non-car advertising

Who was the owner of the racer when the photo was taken? Edward Maier, owner of Maier Brewery Comany and baseball team the Vernon Tigers

What was Maier Select?  Beer

Identify at least one person in the photo: Barney Oldfield

Link this racer to the Vanderbilt Cup Races: Competed against some cars that ran and possibly was itself in Santa Monica Vanderbilt Cup Races

From Mystery Foto#50 Solved:The 1911 FIAT S74 Driven by Barney Oldfield in the May 1912 Santa Monica Race