Vanderbilt Cup Races

I think this might be Maurice Bernin and his mechanician Felix Prossen at the 1904 Vanderbilt Cup Race on October 8, 1904. Bernin drove the number 11 Renault and finished 17th.

I didn’t expect nobody to come up with the answer, so I forgot all about it. However in my research last week after the mystery photo two questions came up:
The first one is: I find for Florida not only Jim, but also Joe and James as his first name. Which of these is the correct one?
My main interest in the photo however is the steering wheel, showing an interesting pattern that intrigues me. Normally the steering wheels are wrapped with a ribbon for a better grip, but that seems to be absent here (still). The steering wheel of the Old No.16 (in the Ford Museum ?) is made of wood, but on an older picture (from a post on TheOldMotor.com) you can observe the same steering wheel pattern. So my question is: what is it made of? Probably the answer is simple, but does anybody know?

Ariejan- I am unsure about the wheel, but Florida went by all 3 names at any given time.

The wood wheel is wrapped possibly with leather in the photos of the restored #1 Locomobile in the links I posted above, but unsure how accurate the restoration was.

Hi Greg,
Thanks about the names. I thought so too, but wasn’t sure. At some point I figured he might have had a brother as there were more confusing racing brothers in these days like the Farman brothers and especially the Guinness brothers.
About the steering wheel, that will need some research still indeed.