Vanderbilt Cup Races

Hemmings Blog has reported that the Alco Black Beast has been invited to the 2016 Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance as part of a special exhibit pairing "some of the most prestigious and historic motorsports trophies ...with some of the most noteworthy cars that won them."

The trophies will go on display at the Ritz-Carlton hotel from Thursday through Saturday, then will take their positions on the field with each car on Sunday.

Enjoy,

Howard Kroplick

 
Hemmings Sports & Exotic Car
 
Vintage race trophies to appear with cars that won them at Amelia Island
 
Daniel Strohl on Jan 4th, 2016 at 8am

  
Of course, race cars get all the attention: They’re fast, loud, oftentimes flashy, and driven by men of legend. But those men of legend don’t just race for the thrill of it. They race for the money, the recognition and, not least of all, the trophies. For the first time ever next year, some of the most prestigious and historic motorsports trophies will gather in one place as the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance pairs them with some of the most noteworthy cars that won them.
 
The idea for the pairings came, according to Amelia Island founder and chairman Bill Warner, over a couple of beers. “A bottle of Guinness with Donald Osborne at the Mille Miglia,” he said. “Seriously, Donald showed me a Mille Miglia trophy while I was over there, and I thought, why not get a collection of them and match them with the cars.”
 
So Warner went to work putting together a list of the most famous trophies in motorsports. Some seemed like no-brainers, like the Borg-Warner Trophy, which has gone to the winner of every Indianapolis 500 since 1936 and remains with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Warner decided to pair it with the Ford V-8-powered Johnny Lightning Special that Al Unser drove to victory in both 1970 and 1971 and that nowadays resides in the Unser Racing Museum in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
 
Other trophies that will go on display include the Wheeler-Schebler Trophy, awarded to winners of the Indy 500 predecessor race as well as to the racer leading the Indy 500 after 400 laps, which will be paired with the Old No. 10 1909 Buick; the Harley J. Earl Perpetual Trophy, awarded to winners of the Daytona 500, which will be paired with the Richard Petty No. 43 Plymouth Road Runner that won the 1971 Daytona 500; the Stevens Challenge Trophy, awarded from 1927 to 1954 to any manufacturer capable of sustaining 60 miles per hour over a 24-hour period at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which will be paired with a Cord 812 sedan; the 1965 24 Hours of Le Mans trophy, which will be paired with the Ferrari 250LM that Masten Gregory and Jochen Rindt drove; the 1949 24 Hours of Le Mans trophy, which will be paired with the Ferrari 166MM that Luigi Chinetti and Peter Mitchell-Thomson drove; the 1914 French Grand Prix trophy, which will be paired with the Mercedes that Christian Lautenschlager drove; the Maurice G. Bauer Trophy, “awarded” to winners of the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, paired with the Ferrari Dino that Jack May and Rick Cline drove in 1975; and the trophy awarded to the winner of the Race of Two Worlds (500 Miglia di Monza), paired with the 1958 John Zink Leader Card Monza Special Watson-Offenhauser roadster that Jim Rathmann drove.
 
In addition, the display will pair a replica of the Challenge Cup Presented by W.K. Vanderbilt Jr. (the original sits in storage at the Smithsonian) paired with the 1909 ALCO Black Beast; and the Alec Ulmann Trophy, which will be paired with a car to be determined.
 
Warner said the trophies will go on display in the Ritz-Carlton hotel from Thursday through Saturday, then take their positions on the field with each car on Sunday.
 
The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance will take place March 11-13, 2016. For more information, visit AmeliaConcours.org.