Vanderbilt Cup Races

Thanks Howard, we will. I never met the man but bet he’s a tough nut. Has been on my mind to visit his museum ever since a group of you did several years ago.

From Update July 20 2021: A visit to see Marty Himes and the Himes Museum of Automobile Nostagia

Frank, Exactly right, The lodges all had safes to hold the the monies collected until picked up. Prior to the Motorcycle force Kienzle himself would do the collecting. This way he could check out conditions of the ROW and other handle other issues.

From Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Tommy Zinzi policing the Motor Parkway in front of the Meadow Brook Lodge

1909 Christie Front Drive

Barney Oldfield

Walter Christie beat Barney Oldfield and others with his new car at Gross Pointe, Michigan in August of 1909.
Oldfield bought the car and in 1915 in Tacoma he averaged 113.9 mph for a mile, and at Indianapolis in 1916 he set a new lap record of 102.6 mph.

No VCR connection to the car (let’s start the debate again).

Wayne Carroll Peterson is Barney Oldfield’s great, great nephew. 

Information obtained from vanderbiltcupraces.com, firstsuperspeedway.com and The Henry Ford Museum.

From Mystery Foto #28 Solved: Barney Oldfield in the 1909 Christie Racer which established the 102.6 mph Indy lap record in 1916

Amazing details as always Al, much appreciated! I figure the Monday morning collections was due to the heavier toll activity during the weekends.

From Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Tommy Zinzi policing the Motor Parkway in front of the Meadow Brook Lodge

Oldfield in the Christie racer.

From Mystery Foto #28 Solved: Barney Oldfield in the 1909 Christie Racer which established the 102.6 mph Indy lap record in 1916

I recognize those wheels!

From Mystery Foto #28 Solved: Barney Oldfield in the 1909 Christie Racer which established the 102.6 mph Indy lap record in 1916

John Walter Christie’s last and fastest racing car.  Built in 1909. Arguably the fastest oval track race car in the USA from 1912-1916.  Faster even than the mighty Blitzen Benz and the European Grand Prix winning FIAT race cars, on circle tracks, anyway. When Barney Oldfield turned the first 100mph lap at Indy in 1916 in this Christie, even the state-of-the-art European race cars with twin overhead cams and 4 valves per cylinder could not reach that speed. A period drawing of the car shown below.

From Mystery Foto #28 Solved: Barney Oldfield in the 1909 Christie Racer which established the 102.6 mph Indy lap record in 1916

Frank, All the lodge occupants knew Zinze well. Besides police duties, It was his job, especially on Monday mornings, to collect the toll fees from the various lodges and bring them to Kienzle. Your right about the closeness of the lodge occupants, especially after telephones were installed in the lodges. Whole families would get together, while the kids played outside, the parents were playing cards, usually pinochle.

From Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Tommy Zinzi policing the Motor Parkway in front of the Meadow Brook Lodge

The man, the myth, the legend!

-The race car and its driver

He’s got his cigar! Of course, Barney Oldfield in a 1909 100hp 20 liter Christie FWD racer.

-The accomplishments of the race car

Barney Oldfield made a lap record on May 28, 1916, in the Christie with a time of 1:27.70, Average 102.623 MPH, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The medal he won for the feat below.

-The race car to the Vanderbilt Cup Races

Walter Christie raced in the 1905 & 1906 Races

-The driver to Wayne Carroll Petersen

Barney Oldfield’s great-great nephew

From Mystery Foto #28 Solved: Barney Oldfield in the 1909 Christie Racer which established the 102.6 mph Indy lap record in 1916

Would the engineer be Finley Robertson Porter, designer of the Mercer 35 ?
A very nice Mercer 35 Raceabout lived at the Long Island Auto Museum and remained in the Clark family for a number of years after the Museum closed.

From Henry Austin Clark Jr.'s Long Island Automotive Museum automobiles at the July 4, 1960 Southampton Parade

That is some very rare paper

From Greg O's Garage: From the Helck Family Collection: Stocks and Bonds

Below are screenshots of The Herb McCarthy’s Restaurant ( postcard ), The current eatery on the south side of Bowden Square, and a view opposite on the north side of Bowden Square. The white home is seen, and there’s a house or 2 just east. Bowden Square is a short road. Just have to figure who lived in these homes back then.

From Henry Austin Clark Jr.'s Long Island Automotive Museum automobiles at the July 4, 1960 Southampton Parade

Thanks Greg and Al. From what I’ve gathered, for one instance, Otto to call him Tommy the cop, it slowly appears the whole Motor Pkwy community was a tight knit family including Eric Ericson 20 miles away. Upon the Pkwy’s closing in 1938, Willie K transferred the lodge’s ownership to the gate keepers at an attractive price. The community seemed to care for each other during operation and for the Parkway cause.

From Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Tommy Zinzi policing the Motor Parkway in front of the Meadow Brook Lodge

Frank, Regarding your post mentioning the bridge in the background….  if the accident happened just east of the Meadowbrook Lodge,  the bridge in the distance could be the one at Old Westbury Rd.

From Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Tommy Zinzi policing the Motor Parkway in front of the Meadow Brook Lodge

Frank-
Unfortunately no. Bill sent that along with his family lodge photos last year. I too have been trying to discern the location myself for a while as well, but have come up empty handed. It appears Otto McCamish was very involved with many aspects of the LIMP aside from managing the lodge, from snow plowing, to bridge construction and possibly more. It could be anywhere, but my gut says this is somewhere in the vicinity of the MeadowBrook lodge.

From Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Tommy Zinzi policing the Motor Parkway in front of the Meadow Brook Lodge

Brian - Thank you for sharing Sam III’s LIMP photo at Wheeler Rd; I agree, he would’ve shared it just the same. Also excellent observation on the Meadow Brook location! I sped too quickly through the photo assuming it was Zinzi’s home in Massapequa.

Greg - Are there any captions on Bill Cruickshank’s accident photo with Zinzi’s motorcycle? I enhanced the photo below in an attempt to home in on location. That car rolled over at least once due to its extensive damage, and likely caused by excessive speed. Looks like a bridge in the background but I’m unable to locate the photo.

From Mystery Foto #27 Solved: Tommy Zinzi policing the Motor Parkway in front of the Meadow Brook Lodge

Nope not Ransom Olds

From Henry Austin Clark Jr.'s Long Island Automotive Museum automobiles at the July 4, 1960 Southampton Parade

Walt-
The engineer in question sounds like it could have been Ransom Olds, but he never lived in NY, had his mansion in Michigan, and died in 1950, so I don’t think it was him!

From Henry Austin Clark Jr.'s Long Island Automotive Museum automobiles at the July 4, 1960 Southampton Parade

Brian
I do not have a photo of the gentleman, he was an engineer, had two makes of cars with his name on them ( but not at the same time) after he left being chief engineer at a separate automobile manufacturer.
Walt

From Henry Austin Clark Jr.'s Long Island Automotive Museum automobiles at the July 4, 1960 Southampton Parade

I like the auto that’s heading to Herb McCarthy’s ( there’s McCarthy’s everywhere ???? ). Walt - The identity of the gentleman who was significant with the automotive industry would make a neat mystery foto!

From Henry Austin Clark Jr.'s Long Island Automotive Museum automobiles at the July 4, 1960 Southampton Parade