About
The six Vanderbilt Cup Races held on Long Island from 1904 to 1910 were the greatest sporting events of their day, and the first international automobile road races held in the United States. The races had a far-reaching impact on the development of American automobiles and parkways. This site provides comprehensive information on the races, the Long Island Motor Parkway and current Long Island automotive events, car shows and news.
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Co-Founder and Writer: Howard Kroplick
Co-Founder: Dana Kroplick
Website by Eric Miller Design
Site maintained by Hop Studios
Recent Comments
Al, it is a great question! Barney Oldfield was constantly in conflict with the AAA, the sanctioning sponsor of the Long Island Vanderbilt Cup Races during this period and often suspending from racing in their events: https://www.mmshof.org/index.php/inductees/inductees/314-barney-oldfield-2
From Greg O.'s Garage: From the Helck Family Collection- Barney Oldfield and the "Green Dragon"
Al,
It makes sense. How was the fastest man alive not included in the Vanderbilt Cup Races in the beginning? The first year of the Cup Races in 1904, he held every record at all the big tracks that year in the Green Dragon….I believe Barney’s exclusion from the Vanderbilt Cup Races was more socioeconomic than anything else.
Read this and let me know what you think.
https://toledosattic.org/essays/101-abstracts/biography/105-ess-oldfield
From Greg O.'s Garage: From the Helck Family Collection- Barney Oldfield and the "Green Dragon"
Thanks Howard and http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com for Keeping American Automotive Racing History Alive! Give my Best to the Black Beast!
You Know Me
From Greg O.'s Garage: From the Helck Family Collection- Barney Oldfield and the "Green Dragon"
Howard, Meant on Long island. Any idea why not?
From Greg O.'s Garage: From the Helck Family Collection- Barney Oldfield and the "Green Dragon"
Great painting of Howard and great photos from Robert!
From Mystery Foto #24 Solved: A wonderful painting of Howard Kroplick in the Alco Black Beast by Joe Pep
Completion of the article.
From Mystery Foto #26 Solved : The J18 Mitchell racer driven by Frank Zirbes at the Start Line
Additional info. on driver Frank Zirbes who was employed by the Mitchell company for many years and drove their cars in many endurance runs.
From Mystery Foto #26 Solved : The J18 Mitchell racer driven by Frank Zirbes at the Start Line
#18 Mitchell
Frank Zirbes
The Jericho Sweepstakes, one of the races of the 1908 Motor Parkway Sweepstakes.
October 10, 1908
Fred Wagner, possibly Jefferson DuMont Thompson
From Mystery Foto #26 Solved : The J18 Mitchell racer driven by Frank Zirbes at the Start Line
Al,
Barney raced in two Vanderbilt Cup Races:
-The 1914 Vanderbilt Cup Race held in Santa Monica. He finished second in the #7 Mercer:
http://www.champcarstats.com/races/191401.htm
-The 1915 Vanderbilt Cup Race held in San Francisco. He finished seventh in the #1 Maxwell:
http://www.champcarstats.com/races/191505.htm
He was entered in the 1916 Vanderbilt Cup Race in a Delage, but did not appear.
http://www.champcarstats.com/races/191613.htm
Enjoy,
Howard
From Greg O.'s Garage: From the Helck Family Collection- Barney Oldfield and the "Green Dragon"
Greg, Thanks for the comprehensive article on Barney Oldfield….however, don’t believe he ever participated in any of the Vanderbilt Cup Races ???
From Greg O.'s Garage: From the Helck Family Collection- Barney Oldfield and the "Green Dragon"
-The race car
-The driver
The #18 Mitchell driven by F. Zirbes who came in 3rd with a time of 3:46:07 for the 140.76 mile contest.
-The race and its date
Jericho Sweepstakes, Sept. 10th 1908
-Kudos question: Identify one or more officials in the Mystery Foto
The official on the right could be holding a rolled up flag making him possibly Starter and Clerk of the Course Fred Wagner.
From Mystery Foto #26 Solved : The J18 Mitchell racer driven by Frank Zirbes at the Start Line
Barney Oldfield, Master Driver of the World & America’s Legendary Speed King. Thanks for keeping American Automotive Racing History Alive! http://www.firstsuperspeedway.com, www.brownfoxbooks.com.
From Greg O.'s Garage: From the Helck Family Collection- Barney Oldfield and the "Green Dragon"
I liked the Zeppelin hangar! Huge.
From Kleiner's Korner: A U.S. Army Signal Corps (Mineola) Scrapbook
Thanks for sharing that car event right in NYC!
From The 1954 Carnival of Cars parade down Fifth Avenue
From “The NY Daily News”, July 30 and August 9, 1942.
From Long Island Motor Parkway Bridge Series: #11 Little Neck Road Motor Parkway Bridge in Queens
Found on this website the 1910 Marquette-Buick (#27) that raced during the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Race on Oct 1, 1910. Its driver was Bob Burman with Howard Hale as mechanician. Guessing the race preparation is at the Marquette-Buick headquarters on Sept 1910
From Mystery Foto #25 Solved: Harry Grant preparing the Alco "White Beast" for the 1910 Indy Races
Enjoyed seeing Professor Kraft’s collection of unique rare photos of early motoring here in Levittown, Long Island. Amazing that this set has been preserved all these years and now available for all to access at anytime.
Happy Father’s Day Ted, and to all the Dads out there!
From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive Part I: From the Hall/Kraft Family Album-Previously unpublished photos of the 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race
Never realize how big the grand stand was. Big time race!
From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive Part I: From the Hall/Kraft Family Album-Previously unpublished photos of the 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race
It is always nice to see new photos of these racing events. The photo of the National of Aitken (not Aiken) with the lost wheel is rather unique, never seen one before. Johnny Aitken had made it until round five (out of 22). The mystery racer is Willy Knipper on a Chalmers-Detroit with nr. 7. He had replaced Dingley, who had an accident during practice the day before, and he would end surprisingly on 3rd place. Another photo of his car from the Detroit Public Library archive, though from a slightly different angle, shows the same contours and details.
From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive Part I: From the Hall/Kraft Family Album-Previously unpublished photos of the 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race
Great picture and perspective on how big the grandstand was. Today the person who took this picture would be pretty much standing on the west side of Crocus lane, (Levittown) maybe about 100 feet south of Blacksmith road facing west/southwest.
From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive Part I: From the Hall/Kraft Family Album-Previously unpublished photos of the 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race
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