Brooklyn Daily Eagle Cover
While the press praised the entertainment value of the race, the death to a spectator also fueled editorials crying for crowd control reform. The bone of contention was the continued use of public roads. Two days after the race, AAA President John Farson appointed a special committee to look into developing a privately owned speedway. At an October 18, 1906, meeting William K. Vanderbilt Jr. was named president of a newly formed “Automobile Highway Association.” The company would later become Long Island Motor Parkway, Inc., responsible for developing the first road built specifically for the automobile.
The partially completed train crossing is obviously Mineola or Albertson. Staring at the picture it could easily be…