Vanderbilt Cup Races

Thanks for the nice update!

Ken

From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive: Then & Now- The First Parkway Fast Food Restaurant

Hi Howard This is Joe DeBono The Halfway House tea room, had another gas pump to the right that you can,t see in those photo’s (totaling three) and a little structure to store motor oil. Also, about 15 years ago the sliding front windows were still inside the storage/garage.Back then you could see them from the inside only.There is another thing to tell about that place, that’s for another time. Keep up the good work

From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive: Then & Now- The First Parkway Fast Food Restaurant

Sometimes we all have to eat crow and I am no exception. In regards to the photo on the Roosevelt Raceway 1939 midget racing page entitled “An unidentified winner of a Roosevelt Raceway midget race accepting his trophy”, I previously posted on this and thought it to be Morris “Bade” Bower. I will refer to this photo hereon as “unknown”. It is well documented that “Babe” won the Roosevelt segment of the three race championship series on August 12, 1939 followed by Joe Garson and Perry Grimm respectively. After doing more research on “Babe” I found no photos of Babe Bower or Midget racers he drove from that time frame that looked even remotely similar to the website “unknown” photo. So who is in the photo? After a few months pondering this mystery I stumbled across a photo in Jack Fox’s book “The Mighty Midgets” of an un-helmeted Wesley Saegesser sitting in the Arnold Krause Offenhauser midget. The Krause Offys were used by Wes when racing in the northeast during this period. Both Saegesser and the midget racer look eerily similar, if not exactly the same as the mystery “unknown” photo. I must mention that Wesley had a birth defect and his left arm only extended a few inches past the elbow. This is apparent in the “unknown” photo as well and is not a photographic illusion. Now I knew the driver and the car owner in the “unknown” photo, but not the link to Roosevelt Raceway. Race enthusiast Tom Avenengo was kind enough to provide a document with the race win statistics for Wes Saegesser. Wes raced the Midwest as far as Texas and the Northeast, traveling a lot and being hailed as coming from multiple different cities. The data shows a banner year for Wes in 1939, racing and winning in the northeast including many Long Island races. He was a threat to many hot local Long Island Midget drivers but was well known and liked by the public. Ok, so what about Roosevelt Raceway and the Trophy being presented in the “unknown” photo to Wes? Scanning newspaper articles at Fultonhistory.com I found an article about Saegesser being well enough to race at Roosevelt Raceway (Hempstead Sentinel 8/2/1939). He had a previous bad accident in June according to the win data document provided by Tom and was getting back on form. After multiple dead end searches I finally hit the jackpot. An article from the Long Island Daily press dated Thurs. 6/15 1939 has the identical photo as the “unknown” and is titled: “Collecting the season’s first big prize”. The caption reads: “Wes Saegesser, one-armed daredevil from St. Louis, receives the Lou Stone trophy from Promoter Walter C Stebbins after he had won the first big race for the Eastern States championship at the Cedarhurst Speedway last night. On the other side of the car is Arnold Krause, owner of the racer”.  The Saegesser win data document confirms the win on Wed. 6/14/1939 at Cedarhurst. Now we know who the driver is, the car owner, about the trophy presented as well as where and when the “unknown” photo was taken. I don’t know if the recuperating Wesley Saegesser did compete in the August 12 championship race or not. That is irrelevant. It is fact that Wesley did not win at Roosevelt Raceway at any time. I believe it a good guess to say that if the “unknown” photo was used in conjunction with Roosevelt Raceway in any way, it was probably a promotional ploy using Saegesser’s immense popularity as a ticket draw.  I feel it is time to either correct the “unknown” photo caption on the VanderbiltCupRaces.com website page or replace it with a photo of the Raceway’s true 1939 championship driver, Morris “Babe” Bower.  I have photographed documentation to back up everything stated in this comment post. Unfortunately, this post does not allow attachments. I will be glad to provide this documentation upon request. Thanks for your time, Wayne Feulner

From Midget Auto Racing at Roosevelt Raceway in 1939

I’m not of age to have an actual memory of this scene, but I know the area. This is Levittown, looking east across Wantagh Ave. The remains of the LIMP/East Abutment is seen at the left.The PSEG Row is to the right, Levittown substation near distance. The steel towerline to the right is now steel poles. Pre-1960, 8th precint (community policing center) was built at LIMP location in photo (1960).

From Mystery Foto #80 Solved: The East Embankment of the Wantagh Avenue Motor Parkway Bridge in the 1950s

My comment said the overpass was leveled
correct wording would be ” the eastern side of the overpass grade was leveled about 1960”

From Mystery Foto #80 Solved: The East Embankment of the Wantagh Avenue Motor Parkway Bridge in the 1950s

Looking East across Wantagh Avenue toward Hicksville Road. The power sub station still exists but is upstaged by the Island Trees Water tower and Levittown FD station 3. The old overpass was eventually leveled when the Nassau County Police added the 8th Precinct in about 1960.

From Mystery Foto #80 Solved: The East Embankment of the Wantagh Avenue Motor Parkway Bridge in the 1950s

Roy: Yours is a unique location and rare occurrence! I’m envisioning a concrete roadway in your backyard. What else is on your property?

From Video "An Evening with Marty Himes"

Wantagh Ave, currently a Nassau County Police Station.  Obviously, the date is after the parkway closed, and before the station was built.  The LIRR ROW ran just south of the parkway.  The Massapequa Lodge is just down the road a bit.
-joe

From Mystery Foto #80 Solved: The East Embankment of the Wantagh Avenue Motor Parkway Bridge in the 1950s

It looks like the right of way for the LIMP.  Looking eastward at Wantagh Avenue, Levittown about 1959, the hill on the left shows the remains of the Parkway pavement.  The parkway bridge went over Wantagh Avenue at this point.  On the right side are the LILCO towers and transmission lines and substation in the background on the extreme right. The power lines and towers were erected on property owned by the Long Island Railroad, Central Branch.
This location was the railroad right of way.
The parkway hill gave way to the 8th Precinct station house of the Nassau County Police.

From Mystery Foto #80 Solved: The East Embankment of the Wantagh Avenue Motor Parkway Bridge in the 1950s

-Identify the Motor Parkway location of this photo.

Another educated guess on this mystery foto, but I’ll go with where the LIMP went over Wantagh Ave in Island Trees(Levittown)/Bethpage.

-Describe all the features in the photo.

The ever-present power lines follow the LIMP on the South side and there are very few trees. Because of that, one can assume that we’re looking East and this would be remnants of one of the few LIMP ‘parkway’ bridges in the Hempstead plains area. I’m thinking those are the remains of the East side embankment of the Wantagh Ave LIMP bridge which was taken down in 1947. There appears to be a structure being built on the right which I can only identify as the million gallon Island Trees water tower.

-What is the approximate year of the photo? Why?
-What is currently in this location?

I’m guessing somewhere between 1954-1959. Aerials from 1953 do not show the water tower, and in 1960, Nassau County built the 8th precinct on the spot where the embankment is in the photo. I couldn’t find any information as to what year the water tower was built which could have exactly dated the photo.
There is also currently a firehouse in front of where the water tower is.

From Mystery Foto #80 Solved: The East Embankment of the Wantagh Avenue Motor Parkway Bridge in the 1950s

also behind the hill on the left would be the tops of the LIRR central line telegraph poles.

From Mystery Foto #80 Solved: The East Embankment of the Wantagh Avenue Motor Parkway Bridge in the 1950s

sorry…looking WEST from Jerusalem Avenue

From Mystery Foto #80 Solved: The East Embankment of the Wantagh Avenue Motor Parkway Bridge in the 1950s

Pre Levittown,  The remains of the Long Island Aviation Club Hangar looking east from Jerusalem Avenue Levittown, in the 1940s when the power lines took over the ROW. also former site of the Press Box during the Motor Parkway days is my guess.

From Mystery Foto #80 Solved: The East Embankment of the Wantagh Avenue Motor Parkway Bridge in the 1950s

i happen to live on the oldest paved road in the united states LI MOTOR PKWY

From Video "An Evening with Marty Himes"

Off hand, this event looks much like the beginning of the new Ground Breaking Ceremony for the reborn Long Island Motor Parkway. Except this time it’s in Queens! This cant be missed.

From Hear the Black Beast Roar this Sunday at the Motor Parkway East Walk/Ride in Queens

Enjoyed that video. Now I’ll be going back to the museum again to see what I missed last time and I’m sure he’ll have something new to show us, knowing him. he always finds something to do with racing

From Video "An Evening with Marty Himes"

I’ll be going on Sunday. I’m looking forward to it, it’s going to be a nice day. Hope to see most of you at the Queens Greenway

From Hear the Black Beast Roar this Sunday at the Motor Parkway East Walk/Ride in Queens

Too tired this weekend to do more investigating than this.  Location analysis done with the help of historicmapworks.com (will send documentation to Howard).

Construction of Bethpage Parkway is shown on the left of the photo.  At the bottom it meets Merritts Road that turns up in the middle of the photo.  The Parkway meets Hempstead/Bethpage Turnpike at the top where it ends (at least at that time).  Streets going out from Merritts may be Yoakum or Fallwood Parkway, also Cusick or even Motor Avenue which intersect with Heissers Lane.  Merritts also meets Fulton and Conklin (the latter actually another name for Hempstead/Bethpage Turnpike). 

Railroads running from left to right and somewhat to the top of the photo would be the LIRR Main Line and the Central Railroad.  The intersection these lines was called the Bethpage Junction.

Golf Course would be the Bethpage courses that opened in 1932 and 1935.

Villages include Central Park on the left most part of the photo above the end of the Bethpage Parkway, Bethpage and Farmingdale in the middle of the photo just below the train lines. 

Significance to the Motor Parkway would be the Powell Avenue Bridge and Nibbe Farm Bridge and the Bethpage Lodge (probably more too).  I imagine the Vanderbilt Race would have run on some of the parkway in this area. 

From Mystery Foto #79 Solved: Bethpage State Parkway Under Construction In 1935

In regard to my answers to the latest mystery photo, I could be wrong about the “framework” that looks to be extending over the Central Ext and Hempstead Tpke. It seems to be a trestle under construction? Whatever it is, it looks impressive.

From Mystery Foto #79 Solved: Bethpage State Parkway Under Construction In 1935

There’s quite a bit of action in this aerial. We’re looking north at Bethpage and Farmingdale. The importance of the LIMP and the 1908 VCR would be the portion of the LIMP that is seen from Central Ave north to Plainview Rd, which was constructed in time for the 1908 race. The raillines seen are the mainline, the Central ROW is evident enough, the Central Ext east of Merrits Rd is clear( pretty sure that’s the framework for the future trestle over Hempstead Tpke and Merrits) Also, the siding that ran north to the brickyard is evident. BSPkwy is being built. Then we have Hempstead Tpke, Merrits Rd, and Rte 109 ; I think. You can see Merrits joining Central Ave and Quaker Meeting House Rd, then north to Round Swamp Rd. Last,but not least; Bethpage State Park and Golf Course.

From Mystery Foto #79 Solved: Bethpage State Parkway Under Construction In 1935