The Early Years by CLAUDE MILOT
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Racing & MOTOR: The Early Years BY CLAUDE MILOT George Robertson’s Locomobile careens through the final turn to victory in the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup race. hen William Randolph 100th anniversary of our magazine, and powered, so he began work on a new Hearst started MOTOR are excited about celebrating this mile- vehicle with a two-cylinder, four-cycle Magazine in 1903, he stone, by looking back on those 100 engine. It was completed in the spring no doubt knew instinc- years. A complete retrospective, of of 1895 and immediately “went into tively that the automo- course, is impossible; the history of the daily service,” as he put it in that bile was about to automobile industry is so varied and ex- March 1909 issue. change the world. The first few issues tensive we could not possibly do it jus- Duryea credited four contemporary read like a newsletter for Hearst’s rich tice in these few pages. Instead, we pioneers for the development of the friends;W after all, they were the only chose to bring you one small piece of automobile: Elwood Haynes of Koko- ones who could afford those fabulous automotive history that MOTOR record- mo, Indiana, who produced a vehicle in new toys back then. But you can sense ed rather well, we think. And that is the 1893 that was the first to use aluminum the excitement in those first pages early history of automobile racing in parts; George Selden, whose “road lo- about the real possibilities of the auto- America. comotive” wasn’t completed until 1905; mobile industry. One of the most extraordinary ac- Henry Ford, whose first four-wheel, We at MOTOR are proud to mark the counts of the development of the self-propelled auto was completed in American automobile industry ap- 1893; and Alexander Winton, who built Claude Milot’s 35 years with The Hearst peared in the March 1909 issue of his first car in 1895 and began setting Corporation includes stints as Director MOTOR. It was written by Charles E. speed records in 1897. of Marketing and Director of Manufac- Duryea, the man generally considered turing for Motor Information Systems. to have built America’s first practical The First Races in America His long and distinguished service with motorized carriage in 1893 and who Charles Duryea won the first automo- MOTOR made him the perfect choice to thereby arguably launched America’s bile race ever run in America, on write this article. Claude is now retired automobile industry. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving Day, 1895. There were six and living in North Carolina. Duryea’s first car proved to be under- contestants. Duryea won with an aver- March 2003 27 Racing & MOTOR: The Early Years new tracks specifically for auto racing. Two modified horse tracks that fig- ured prominently in auto racing’s early days were Empire City in Yonkers, New York, and Brighton Beach near Coney Island in Brooklyn. To keep the dust down, the dirt surface was covered with a layer of oil before every race. And to cut down on the possibility of skidding out of control, the turns were banked— a change that made it possible for speed records to be broken at just about every meet. The use of horse tracks for racing brought another change—the switch from amateur drivers to professionals. Cars were getting bigger and faster, and racing was becoming too dangerous for L.J. Bergdoll, with his No. 11 Benz, was the star of the 150-mile stock car race “gentlemen.” What had begun as enter- at Florida’s Ormond Beach, a premier locale in early beach racing. tainment for wealthy car owners had become a professional sport. age speed of 7.5 mph, not so bad con- signaled that racing had come of age. sidering the course was covered with as Records continued to be set. On Jan- The First Road Races much as 12 to 18 inches of snow and uary 13, 1904, on the ice of Lake St. Road racing did not make its debut in ice, according to Duryea. He won sev- Clair near Detroit, the Ford “999” cov- America until 1904. In 1899, American eral other races as the century neared ered one mile in an incredible 39.4 sec- newspaper publisher James Gordon its close. onds. As unbelievable as that record Bennett resolved to do something about For the next several years, all the im- was, it wouldn’t even last to the end of the French domination of racing. To portant races were run in Europe, al- the month. Records galore were about encourage American manufacturers to most all of them in France. For this rea- to be set in Florida on a long stretch of build cars that could compete with the son, France can legitimately claim to hard sand called Ormond Beach. French, he organized the Automobile have been the country where motor car Challenge Cup race and invited auto- racing began. The First Race Tracks mobile clubs from every country to Back in the United States, road rac- Interestingly, horses made the first au- compete. The race, which became bet- ing had not yet taken hold. Other than tomobile speed races possible. In its in- ter known as the Gordon Bennett Tro- the occasional one-on-one match, like augural issue in July 1903, MOTOR re- phy Race, became the first great racing the one between Henry Ford and ports that the “millionaire colony” gath- series in automotive history. The race Alexander Winton in October 1901, ered in Saratoga for the summer was ran only six years, from 1900 to 1905, which was won by Ford, racing was con- proposing the Saratoga racetrack as yet it set the tone for what would be- fined to attempts at speed records, ei- ideal for an auto race meeting. And come Grand Prix racing. ther on flat surfaces or on hill climbs. cities that had speedways meant for In 1904, William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. The very first speed record is said to horses, like New York’s Harlem River inaugurated the first road racing series have been set in 1897 by Winton, who Driveway, were petitioned to close in America. The Vanderbilt Cup would covered a mile in his little runabout in 1 them to equine traffic one day a week become America’s premier road race, minute, 47 seconds. But it wasn’t until in favor of automobiles. featuring the world’s best cars and driv- 1901 that records were taken seriously. Horse tracks were located mostly ers. It was called the “Classic of Ameri- On August 30, 1901, at Newport, near metropolitan centers and could can Motordom,” “the King of Automo- Rhode Island, millionaire sportsman draw large numbers of spectators to the bile Races” and “the Premier Event in William K. Vanderbilt, Jr. drove his grandstands. Since these spectators paid the World of Sport.” That’s how big the 1 Mercedes five miles in about 7 ⁄2 min- to get in, they provided some of the Vanderbilt Cup race was from 1904 to utes, and ten miles in 15 minutes. But funds necessary to finance the sport, a 1916. No other race came close in im- in less than three months, on Novem- formula that works well to this day. portance, and no other race got as ber 16 that same year, Henri Fournier Horse tracks weren’t perfect, howev- much ink in MOTOR Magazine. Largely drove his Mors one mile in 51.8 seconds er. The two big problems were dust and because of the success of the Vander- at the speed trials on Coney Island danger to spectators. Track owners bilt Cup, road racing in America would Boulevard in Brooklyn, New York. This would be forced to modify their tracks flourish for the next dozen years in feat created a national sensation, and to correct these problems, or to build many parts of the country. 28 March 2003 Racing & MOTOR: The Early Years Over 80,000 spectators jammed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to watch the 1911 500-mile Memorial Day Sweepstakes race. Vanderbilt was the grandson of Cor- from France, five each from Germany The inaugural Grand Prize race was nelius Vanderbilt, the New York rail- and the United States, and two from held on Thanksgiving Day, 1908, in Sa- road magnate. He spent his inherited Italy. The cars started two minutes vannah, Georgia. It attracted 20 superb wealth on endeavors other than the apart, beginning at 6 a.m. Seven fin- automobiles from France, Germany, family business. Indeed, William’s great ished. After more than seven hours of Italy and the United States, as well as passion was not the railroad, but the au- racing, the winner was American expa- the best drivers in the world. At 402.08 tomobile—more precisely, automobile triate George Heath driving for France miles over a 26-mile course, it was the racing. in a Panhard. He averaged 52 mph. longest race in America. Vanderbilt was probably one of those For the next decade-plus, MOTOR The last Grand Prize race was run in people William Randolph Hearst had in thrilled readers with eyewitness ac- Santa Monica in 1916, until Grand Prix mind when he started MOTOR Maga- counts of all the Vanderbilt Cup races— racing was revived in 1959. World War I zine. His name appears in MOTOR’s ear- except, amazingly, the last, in 1916. Af- had put an end to road racing in Eu- liest accounts of hill-climbing contests ter the race, Vanderbilt decided to re- rope, as well. The Grand Prize, like the and speed meets.