Vanderbilt Cup Races

That’s William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. in a 1902 MORS (car #28) at West Orange, NJ. The date of the photo is Thursday, November 26, 1903. Willie K won the Eagle Rock Hill Climbing Contest that day with a time of 1.36 1/4 minutes. The 2nd., 3rd., and 4th. place entries were: #4 Darracq, F. A. LaRoche (1.46); #1 Mercedes, H. W. Whipple (2.11); #31 Columbia, N. F. Brady (3.29).

From Mystery Foto #96 Solved: Willie K. at the 1903 Eagle Rock Hill Climb in his Mors

Awesome.

From Starting Lineup: The 1915 Vanderbilt Cup Race in San Francisco, California Updated: 10/10/2016

I participated in that Glidden Tour that Margaret & George organized, and was there when they found the trophy in the loft of the museum. That tour was the best week long driving event I have ever taken part in, it was just incredible. The museum had closed by 1981, but Austin opened it up for the tour participants to have one more look. It was a huge amount of work for the Vitale’s to organize that tour and it went off perfectly.

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

Willie K, outside the entrance to his Deepdale Estate.

From Mystery Foto #96 Solved: Willie K. at the 1903 Eagle Rock Hill Climb in his Mors

We have a large selection of postcards from the Long Island Automotive Museum for sale through the Gift Shop at the Seal Cove Auto Museum. Send an email to Eric at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and ask for the postcard list and pricing.

From Postcards from the Long Island Automotive Museum (#13-17)

Thanks. Howard and I want wish all of you a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING too

From The Twelfth Annual Thanksgiving "Turkeys on the Road"

Wow—good as new!  Maybe better.

From Then & Now: Chrysler's Chrysler

Very nice resource!  Thanks for posting it.

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

Nothing can be better than that.

From Then & Now: Chrysler's Chrysler

Howard - considering the mistake I made, how did I do, did I have the right driver, mechanician, car, car#, race and lastly the other things I added, I’d like to know, whenever you get a chance. Thanks. I hope I’m not asking too much, am I?
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From Howard Kroplick

Your first guess of Louis Chevrolet was correct. Your information on the Tracy/Poole team was good.

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

The 6th photo (the DPL-photo submitted by Frank Femenias) is interesting, because the car on the left is a 1908 Isotta-Fraschini type Grand Prix des Voiturettes. It is not the car used in Vanderbilt Cup of course, because this car was much smaller. The touring car in the background is more difficult to id, but could be a 1907 Jackson.

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

It is indeed remarkable, that Ryall is at the wheel of a different car on the team photo and the side view photo, than during the race. Ryall’s car on these photos as well as his car during race are higher built cars however. Both no. 7 cars are more or less similar, only the dash seems to be different and on the dark car the tank is missing. Instead there is wooden (tool-?)box, or is it maybe extra weight? Maybe it was a spare car, only used during practice?  They resemble the regular Matheson Big Four 50hp of that year, though the chassis seems to be shortened. Chevrolet’s more powerful car is obviously built as a racing car. In Automobile Topics I found a photo of a full side view of no.15, again photographed on the same spot as the other photos.

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

Eagle-eyed Howard! I didn’t realize the grandstand in the back of the photo with the #4 Chadwick until you mentioned it. (My jaw dropped!) I noticed only the black banner over Ellison Rd. Also the black #7 has a storage compartment in the back instead of spare tires, possibly used for transporting parts for the racer. It has a different shaped firewall as well than that of the racer. The black #7 may not be a Matheson after all. Nice detective work.

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

Thanks Howard for the link to this fantastic collection. I’ll be spending part of the holiday weekend browsing through it. It may take a few months to check them all out but it will sure be interesting.

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

What did I do? Dorn it, How did I not see the 1 in front of the 5? that would have changed my whole answer and might of gotten it right, because I did say Louis Chevrolet and that was my first thought too, you know the rest. I’m so annoyed at myself

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

Quickly answered this one and fell for the tricky nature of this week’s photo! That’ll teach me for being cavalier and dig deeper even when they seem easy!

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

Mark Dill says

November 24, 2014 at 10:17 am

Really wonderful article supported by images, Art. One point about your closing. Tony George, while still part of the ownership family of the IndyCar series is no longer part of the management team and has little influence on day-to-day operations. That said, I do believe a revival of the Vanderbilt Cup in some form would be special. Howard Kroplick would know about the rights and the legal complications. It also requires a marketing strategy, of course, and all sanctioning bodies look for entitlement sponsorships associated with trophies/races/prizes. Again, congratulations on the great work Art.
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From Howard Kroplick

Mark, thanks for the comment

From Sportscardigest.com Race Profile: "The Vanderbilt Cup, America’s First International Series"

Well I’m pretty sure that’s Louis Chevrolet and his mechanician Joe Nelson. The tricky part is deciding which Vanderbilt Cup Race the photo is from. It’s either the 1908 or 1909 race since Chevrolet was entered as number 15 in both. The key should be how the number 15 is painted on the tank since the type-style or font is different in both races. However, there is some mis-identification of the racer depending on where you see the photo published. Is it the Matheson from 1908 or the Buick from 1909? I’m going with the Matheson from the 1908 race.

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

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