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Chapter About Alfred Vanderbilt Racing Cars for a Historical Biography

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Chapter About Alfred Vanderbilt Racing Cars for a Historical Biography BOOK: HISTORICAL FICTION June 2008 The Unlikely Heir: A Biography of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr. by Jan Manon for Steve Gittelman & The Vanderbilt Museum EXECUTIVE SUMMARY is is an excerpt from the historical ction novel Steve Gittelman hired Jan Manon to ghostwrite in 2008 about Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, the unexpected heir to the railroad fortune of the esty Commodore, Cornelius Vanderbilt. Writing this book was a labor of love. Steve provided Jan with copious amounts of background information. Research also included a trip to a horse competition in western Pennsylvania to meet an English judge who loved Arabian greys as much as Alfred Vanderbilt and a visit to the New York Public Library archives to view photographs of Alfred and his companion, Agnes Ruiz before his death aboard the Lusitania. * Attached below is Chapter 6. e book is written from a third-person point of view. CHAPTER 6: A SERPENTINE CURVE: A FAILURE TO STOP As they approached the dreaded curve, A.G. held on to his seat for dear life as his reckless Italian chauffeur Paul Sartori, veered the ninety horsepower Fiat1 at full throttle round the Mineola section of the course.2 Harder and harder Sartori pushed, trying to reach the outer rim of the course to gain ascension, racking up the speed on the hard turns at a swift ninety miles per hour.3 It was a trial run but the duo did not hold back and Sartori, instead of letting up, slammed down on the gas pedal, until the very last thirty yards before the Serpentine curve at Albertson Station,4 when he suddenly slapped the brakes down. As the crowd gasped in horror, the Fiat’s wheels screeched and skidded across the gutter, as the car spun out of control, launching into the gutter, and by less than a fraction of an inch, Paul and Alfred were thrown out of the car a good fifteen feet,5 landing on a bed of soft earth. The automobile, barely missing three tall telephone poles that lay directly ahead, sped along a little further and then turned over, wheels spinning. In stunned silence the large crowd that had gathered to watch the spectacle, waited. When the two young men stood up, wiping the dust off their jackets, and righted the machine, a huge cheer broke out. A.G. and Sartori got back into the vehicle and finished the course. It was only a year since William K. Vanderbilt II had established the Vanderbilt Cup on Long Island,6 now considered “the greatest sporting event” for automobiles in America.7 Alfred Gwynne had enthusiastically signed up, purchasing a fancy new Italian vehicle and procured a skilled and daring driver to boot. A.G.’s love affair with cars was brief, tumultuous, and thrilling, full of unexpected twists, expensive vehicles, foreign competitions, and thrilling accidents where the “drivers narrowly escaped injury or death.”8 An accident occurred when Elsie, Alfred’s wife, narrowly escaped from a head on collision with a speeding motorcyclist while driving the coach from their estate to pick up Alfred at the Wickford boat ramp.9 Her driver had adroitly reined in the horses, turning them into the curbstone, narrowly missing a direct collision, but overthrowing Elf Productions | P: 802.735.1298 | [email protected] | www.elfproductions.com BOOK: HISTORICAL FICTION one of the horses as Mrs. Alfred G. Vanderbilt leapt out of the carriage. Badly shaken, Elsie got back into the carriage and continued on to the boat dock to meet her husband. Maybe it was that event or her own love of the open seas, but Elsie began to pay more attention to sailing and acquiring her own boat the thirty-foot Caprice. She was able to hold her own against the other Vanderbilt men as a skillful sailor.10 A.G. had also dabbled a bit in yachting, purchasing the steam yacht Vixen the previous year, later renamed Adroit,11 which Elsie now maneuvered skillfully on the water. While his wife did not accompany him to purchase new horses, she did go with Alfred to inquire about new yachts for sale.12 The Vanderbilt family alone possessed more yachts than any other family in the country and almost the entire world, with twelve boats costing approximately $2,000,000. Despite winning a string of regional events13 and beating existing records,14 his chauffeur Paul Sartori had developed a bad reputation for speeding along the local roads15 as he tested out new vehicles, racking up large speeding fines16 footed by the young Vanderbilt.17 With numerous failed attempts caused by mechanical failures such as overheating of the engine in his sleek Mercedes,18 Alfred Gwynne did not exhibit the same winning streak that he had in coaching with his new hobby of car racing. He spent an exorbitant amount on his foreign and specially crafted cars that often fell apart on the course or failed to live up to expectations. In December, hoping to extend his success in the coaching realm towards his car racing efforts, Alfred entered the highly competitive Daytona Beach race19 for the swiftest of the world’s automobiles20 with his new sixty horsepower vehicle driven by Sartori. After another daredevil automobile incident where Sartori swerved into a fence, stripping away boards and iron piping21, and accidentally injuring a sixteen-year old boy who was peering through the rails to watch a local race, A.G. threw in his hat with some frustration but did not give up entirely. He decided to enter one last competition and let the outcome decide the fate of his racing hobby. The young man recognized that these races aroused American manufacturers to compete with Europeans who dominated all the racing events. Picking up the gauntlet, A.G. built his own 250 horsepower goliath22 for the next Ormond event in early 1906. Choosing a location on West Thirty-Ninth Street, Alfred built his own machine shop23 and spent no less than $15,000 on building his own vehicle with light aluminum. Sartori was behind the wheel again. With an estimated speed of 152 miles per hour, Alfred’s powerful new engine could achieve a mile in 23 and 2/3 seconds, beating the world record of 32 4/5 seconds and was believed to be the “most powerful racing machine in the world.”24 Stories of the remarkable speed of this automobile spread like wildfire and when the car was towed to the beach, a crowd of no less than one thousand people waited eagerly to watch the demonstration of its virile strength. Yet not only did the car fail to move fast, it hardly moved at all. Sartori was forced to drag the vehicle back into the shop25 for feverish repairs. The bill racked up and the press commented heavily upon these expenditures, questioning how any man could willingly “sink $30,000 in a 250 horsepower car”26 as the young Vanderbilt offered. The vehicle was deemed to be too heavy for the event, weighing an extra 200 pounds, and vibrated so much that the wheels would sink into the sand.27 Running out of time, A.G. was forced to pull the car out of the race. When his sixty horsepower Mercedes was ruined in a devastating fire, the young man gave up entirely. After nearly a two-year stint, A.G.’s interest in automobile racing began to wane and he retired his fancy vehicles, relegating them to domestic use, while putting all of his energy in Elf Productions | P: 802.735.1298 | [email protected] | www.elfproductions.com BOOK: HISTORICAL FICTION full force towards his coaching. He enjoyed being a top competitor in coaching events both at home and at the London Horse Show.28 Eager young women thronged the entrance of the Holland House during the two-month coaching spree where the young man offered $2 rides through town. In fact, the pleasure of riding with Alfred Gwynne, affectionately called “Alfie” in Newport and New York social circles, far surpassed a need for transportation for these passengers. Considered a man of “amiable disposition29” with an “unimpeachable record,”30 the young Vanderbilt began the 1905 coaching season with a special $10 ride for his fourteen fellow passengers, where he took them from the Holland House to the Ardsley Club and back, an entire distance of nineteen miles that included changing the horses three times. Three times a week, A.G. took his guests to the Ardsley Club, enjoying a pleasurable champagne luncheon at the casino. A.G. acquired the famous champion four-in-hand coaching team comprised of Rustling Silk, Full Dress, Sweet Marie, and Polly Prim from J. Hobart Moore explicitly for horse show events.31 Atlantic City’s busy season picked up the heat by June as both Alfred and his brother Reginald, who continued to enjoy a friendly spar, arrived to feature their horses. With entries in every event, Alfred Gwynne went on to win blue ribbons for his handsome team of grays at Atlantic City, perfectly handling his four-in-hand team and winning large applause from the audience as judges pinned ribbons to his team.32 The young scion was among the very best in the amateur arena and was a force to reckon with in the four-in-hand event with his fine team of horses, considered the best in the country. With his victories, A.G. also enjoyed popular support in the press as stories of his frugal expenditure in comparison to other illustrious members of the Vanderbilt clan emerged. With his fine stable and obvious inclination towards coaching culture, Alfred Gwynne spent his money only on his horse endeavors and his home at Oakland Farms which, although pleasant, was “not at all the sort of place you would expect one of such wealth to live in.”33 While A.G.
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