Vanderbilt Cup Races

Bloomingdale road?

Ok, I believe that this is the 1908 Motor Parkway Sweepstakes held on October 10th.  The car on the left is a Maxwell driven by Charles See.  The vehicle finished 4th (only completed 3 laps) in the “Jericho” sweepstakes race of the day.  The “J” on the front of the car helped identify this race, car and driver here.  As for the other car on the right, this was a little more difficult for me to solve.  I’m going to say its the Sharp Arrow driven by H.W. Sharp as part of the “Garden City” sweepstakes race.  It finished first here in 1908 but was disqualified the following year.  So now my best guess on the bridge in the background is the Station #80 highway bridge (Bloomingdale rd bridge).  The photographer is pretty much facing west.  The curve immediately after the bridge, the scene of flat plains absent of trees seem to corroborate my guess.  Also, I believe in the background of the overpass just to the right of the gathered crowd we might be able to see the water pump tower that was situated to the northwest of the bloomingdale rd bridge.

Sept 10, 1908 Motor Parkway Sweepstakes. J-13 Maxwell driven by Charles See, finished 4th for the Jericho team. The other racer’s radiator resembles a Mercedes-Simplex (bottom photo below), so possibly the P-43 Simplex driven by Frank Lescault, finished 4th for Motor Parkway team. Radiator does not resemble the winning P-42 Isotta driven by Herbert Lytle (middle photo below).

Racers just passed under the Bloomingdale Road highway bridge (1908-1948) in today’s Levittown.

Race results.

The photo shows two contestants in the Long Island Motor Parkway Sweepstakes, held on October 10, 1908. The Maxwell with J13 participated in the Jericho Sweepstakes and would complete only 3 out of 6 rounds ending up on 4th place. The other car is the Sharp Arrow with G28, which participated in the Garden City Sweepstakes for stock cars costing from $2.001,- to $3.000,-. This car in the hands of William G. Sharp would win by a large margin of just under 40 minutes. In the main category, the Motor Parkway Sweepstakes for cars costing over $4.000,- this car would have ended on 3rd place! Motor Age in their 15 October issue showed the Sharp Arrow as the ‘Dark Horse’ of the race. Almost 6 months later the Sharp Arrow was disqualified following a protest, because the car appeared to be a specially built racing car and not a stock car, demanding that at least 10 chassis of the competing car must have been previously built. In the meantime the Sharp Arrow had started production with the slogan: “Speed King of American Stock Cars”! The advert in the Cycle & Automobile Trade Journal of February 1909 clearly predated the granted protest. The Sharp Arrow as a make would only have a short life, as William Sharp together with his riding mechanic Albert Fuches would be killed on the final day of practice for the 1910 Savannah Grand Prize and the make went down with him.

I think that’s the number J13 Maxwell with Charles See driving alongside L. B. Lorimar driving a Maxwell. See finished 4th. in the jericho Sweepstakes while Lorimar finished 6th. in the Garden City Sweepstakes, two of the five concurrently run races that took place on October 10, 1908. The bridge could be the Bloomingdale Road “highway bridge” over the LIMP.

Amazing Sharp Arrow details here. Are there any facts regarding the 1910 Savannah race accident? Life-long efforts to produce this racing machine suddenly came to a halt.. I suspect inadequate road preparations or just poor weather conditions. Splendid documentation Ariejan Bos.

Uploaded a few messages about the crash, in The Horseless Age and The Motor World respectively. The exact reason for the crash is not clear, but obviously the car skidded off the track and was wrecked. Possible cause could be a steering failure or a tire blow-out. The day of the accident was 10 November by the way and not 9 as mentioned in The Horseless Age.

Agreed, Unfortunate accident. Appears no other racer was involved, and likely not. With the new pneumatic tire development, a blow-out is possible that can be controlled to an extent, but teamed with wooden spokes can quickly diminish control. Steering linkage failure is usually catastrophic. Thanks again Ariejan Bos.