A chapter of the new Arcadia book Plainview-Old Bethpage by Thomas Carr features our favorite parkway and road races. Below are 12 photos and their accompanying captions.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Hometown favorite of the 1905 and 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Races
Foxhall Keene's second attempt to win the Vanderbilt Cup Race in his own Mercedes
The six Vanderbilt Cup Races held on Long Island from 1904 to 1910 were the greatest sporting events of their day, and the first international automobile road races held in the United States. The races had a far-reaching impact on the development of American automobiles and parkways. This site provides comprehensive information on the races, the Long Island Motor Parkway and current Long Island automotive events, car shows and news.
Comments
The photo of the crowd near Round Swamp Rd appears to show 2 of the Long Island Auto Club’s signs placed in 1901. These seem to be slightly different though as they show direction to 3 locations rather than the 2 locations seen on other signs.
Last weekend’s mystery photo was supposed to be the only known photo to show the signs in their original locations. Could this be a second photo, or am I incorrect?
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Howard Kroplick
Greg, great catch! See above.
Enjoyed your latest Motor Parkway presentation as usual. Can still remember walking on the Parkway in 1953 when I was 15 years old. This would have been in the Bethpage area.
Ken
I agree with Greg O. that there are two Long Island Automobile Club signs on the telephone pole in his photo. I personally have two Long Island Automobile Club signs with three towns listed on them. The one and two town signs are all 9 inches high. My 2 three town signs are 12 inches high. One sign lists Locust Valley, Glen Cove, and Bayville, while the other lists Locust Valley, Glen Cove, and Lattingtown. It would be nice to get the actual photo Greg mentions to get a clearer image of the signs to see what towns are listed. If you want a picture of my 2 signs I would be happy to send it to you.
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Howard Kroplick
Great, please email them to me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) . Thanks!
“Pictured is a motorist paying a toll - - “? Not hardly; not unless they threw the money out as they raced madly by! Similarly, the SECOND” “Initially, - - ” caption is off. Sorry ‘bout that. Sam, III