Don, You said you found a reference that Oldfield received a medal for the 1905 championship. I was just speculating that given the almost total lack of recognition he got for the championship, maybe he never again put in a serious effort into AAA racing. I think there was much more money on the county fair circuit. I can't remember the source, but I think the Oldfield/Beachey car vs airplane show made more in a weekend than the average worker made in a year. I'm not sure the early Vanderbilt Cup winners got any prize money at all. Sorry, I admit I don't have my facts at hand.
An image that really puts the board track era into perspective. I do not know which track this is and hope that someone can enlighten us as to which one it is. The things to note in this photo is that the track appears to have just been opened after being constructed. What I picked up on is the abrupt angular transitions that you can notice on the curve. Imagine going thru this corner at 90 mph and hitting these abrupt changes. Take a look at all of the left over boards and scrap just where they landed after probably being thrown over the edge after construction in the rush to open the track. This track looks to be brand new as there is no oil deposited in the groove between the white lines. Most board tracks became black in this area and very slippery from the oil. This was a time of big expansion and a push to get facilities up and running and making money. This is unfortunately one of the darker sides of racing, the push to capitalize from it. Jack Prince built many of these tracks for various different promoters and investors and cities who wanted to cash in on the speed craze.
Twin6, Welcome to the HAMB! Great photo, without scrolling all the way back in this thread I'll just ask if this is a twin to the Pullen MERCER that was at Hershey 2009?
My eBay MERCER find, an October 1966 issue of BOYS' LIFE magazine, I was 15 when I recieved my original issue. Neat thing is that later in life I got to take the engine apart that was in the cover car. It was a Ralph Buckley restoration, and the option of turning it into a Raceabout was offered but the owner desided to keep the only Toy Tonneau. There is a nice Ken Purdy article about his Raceabout that he found in 1948, and claimed was the last one "found". I never got on a first name basis with Ken Purdy, he lived just two miles south of me, and I look into his driveway every time I pass it, along with the one up the road that had a 1911 Raceabout. There was a time in the early 1960's that 5 MERCER Raceabouts could meet without any of them driving more than 20 miles. The Purdy article ended with a total of 105 MERCERS known to exist, also if you found one you could pay for a college education with the sale, and have $5,000 leftover.
Breese also participated at the 1904 & '05 Ormond Beach races and unfortunately i had overlooked this. Jan. 29 1904--5 Mile Gentlemans Race-heat 1 - Breese - Mercedes-5:18.6 Jan. 29 1904--5 Mile Gentlemans Race-final-3rd to W.K.Vanderbilt & Samuel B. Stevens, also in Mercedes. Jan. 30 1904--10 Mile Gentlemans Race-4th-Breese-Mercedes- {this could only be described as a 'best buddies' race. Also in this race were Vanderbilt-1st, Stevens-2nd, Herb Bowden-3rd all in Mercedes and W. Christie in the Christie} Jan. 25 1905--J.L. Breese enters the 1 Mile Time Trials. Jan. 28 1905--10 Mile race-limited to German cars-J.L. Breese-Mercedes-3rd-- time-9:25.8 Jan. 28 1905--10 Mile-Ormond Derby-heat 2--J.L. Breese-Mercedes--time-10:29.4 @ 57.20mph. T-Head, i don't know if this car was bought new. I thought i might have been the ex. Vanderbilt car or even one of those left in America by the Europeans. I have seen a photo of Breese and Merc at the 1904 Washington Hill Climb looking very much like a new car. As to the Breeze carburetor, i have seen an advert from the early teens for a 'Breeze Carbureters in Newark, NJ.' promoting a new single circuit carb. I also came across a 'Breeze Hose & Clamp Manufacturing Co.' also from the NJ area. I think the gentlemans name is George Breeze.
David, that is Alexander Winton behind the wheel and it appears to be the Winton Bullet #1. The Bullet #2 and Bullet #3 had a flatdeck with out the engine protruding as it did on #1. I would assume that is Ormond Beach in March of 1903 when it set some records versus the Olds Pirate.
Model A Keith, I always liked that photo of Oldfield in the pits. So did Motor Age and The Automobile as they both published it as well. I always thought he should have done more with that car. By 1917 he replaced the engine with one of Millers new OHC fours (a similar engine to what he had in the Sub starting in 1917). He couldn't seem to get either the Delage engine or the Miller powerplant to the front though. His finish though at Indy in 1916 was his highest I believe (5th). I would not have thought the original Delage engine to have been worn out but who knows._jim Twin Six welcome as well. Great pic of DePalma with one of the 1913 Type 45 Mercers. Bob, if you are referring to George Wingard's car then it would be one of the mates as his is one of the 45s as well.-Jim
Kurtis your reference of a July 2008 event at St Paul, I do have a reference to that event although it is an article on DePalma written in Motor Age of 1914 (12/10/14). The article discusses his triumph at NJ in the 25 and 50 mile races and his next triumph was over Oldfield at St Paul in the 5, 10 and 25 mile races. Also the article discusses the obligatory reference to National Champion ("flushed with his success on the dirt tracks and wearing the crown of AAA champion, DePalma blah,blah..."etc). As to the Red Devil that is a long story and I am not sure that they renamed the Green Dragon the Red Devil. Red Devil originally came from renaming the sister car to the 999 which had been called "The Arrow". When they changed the color of the Arrow from yellow to crimson they called it the Red Devil (Cooper drove the Red Devil and Oldfield the 999). I believe this may have stirred the crowds when the death defying machines of Oldfield rolled into town with all of the talk of Dragons and Devils etc. Oldfield raced three Red Devils, the Arrow, the Peerless and the Stearns, I believe-who knows maybe more. He very well may have turned over the driving chores to DePalma as at that early date I do not believe there was too much bad blood between Oldfield and DePalma, real or perceived. Oldfield knew how to make a buck-hippodroming or not.-Jim
That is San Diego, but also '15. The picture is taken as the course went up what is now Chatsworth blvd, in Point Loma, just past Dana Jr. High. The car in pursuit is a Maxwell (I think).
Some Early Mercer History on Howard Kroplick`s excellent Vanderbilt Cup Website. Scroll to the bottom several photo thumbs. Especially interesting is a photo of three Mercers that ran in a prelim to the VC according to Howard. http://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/i...visit_to_the_amazing_simeon_foundation_museum
Page 2. the "1913 Stutz" is the "Ono" (Fiat chassis/ 50 hp Pope Hartford motor). I have this article as a really really big scan if anyone wants it.
Kurtis, I think this is a photo from the July 15, 1908 Hamline race that you mentioned. Christie / Depalma / Clark. On July 4 Morton Seymour drove a different Christie at Monmouth Park, NJ against Depalma in the Allen Kingston. Where did you find your article ?
Car #17 Would be Billy Carlson Maxwell if in San Diego. In San Fransisco Eddie Rickenbacker drove the #17 Maxwell. A beautiful shot of Eddie at S.F. showing the diagonal planking.
You may be correct, the caption was with the Bruce Craig Photo. If it was SF Cooper went out on lap 3 listed as having a broken crankcase. Interestingly there was a Delage in SF listed as Newhouse #15. What date was the San Diego race? The SF race was Feb, 27 and looking at an enlargement here all of the people are bundled up with coats indicating it was cold. That may be a good clue.
Buildy that Miller is the Re-(whatever insert your flavor of the month term-restoration, recreation whatever) of the Baby Chevrolet by its owner Bill Castle form Indy. Although there is the Sub recreation by Buck Boudeman with a similar engine to the Sub motor, the motor you hear running is the actual racing motor that was in the Baby Chev and so you are hearing the oldest Miller racing engine left in existence. Bill Castle has become a very good friend since he has begun working on this car. His workmanship is unbelievable and Harry Miller would be proud of what he has done with this car. I have some other pics and have posted on this car before and after getting some work done today I will try and post some on that car. I have to go pick up a chassis down in Indy in a couple of weeks and can't wait to pay Bill another visit and see the car once again. By the way Bill is close to 90 and his work ethic is unbelievable.-Jim
I didn't know they had tramcars in San Diego. Is that the Pacific Ocean in the background? I think it's Harry Grant in the #8 Stutz and the #17 Maxwell of Rickenbacker. Could be the Grand Prize or the Vanderbilt Cup.
Quote; I didn't know they had tramcars in San Diego. Is that the Pacific Ocean in the background. I think it's Harry Grant in the #8 Stutz and the #17 Maxwell of Rickenbacker. Could be the Grand Prize or the Vanderbilt Cup. Looking at the photo blown up here it is land as I can see buildings and the curve of the terrain on the horizon. In Helcks book #8 is Cooper it it is SF. What was the date in SD? as I mentioned before the people are all bundled up with coats and the Vanderbit in SF was Feb.27. That might tell us where it is.
Buildy informed me that San Diego was 1/15/15. Would it be cold enough for people to be all bundled up there in the middle of January? That is defiantly land in the background not water so what does that tell us?
T-Head-I doubt it would be that cold in San Diego even in Jan. In SF it is possible even in summer-LOL. "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in SF" was said by someone famous. Mark Twain,I think. Here is the Delage at the start. I have another photo of it I will post soon.
Quote; Kurtis, I think this is a photo from the July 15, 1908 Hamline race that you mentioned. Christie / Depalma / Clark. On July 4 Morton Seymour drove a different Christie at Monmouth Park, NJ against Depalma in the Allen Kingston. Where did you find your article ? Since I posted this photo some time back asking what J.A. Clark was driving I have found that the shape of the cowl along with the rest of it lead me to believe that it may be a Knox. Does anyone have any listing as to what type of car he is driving? Chances are it is not a Knox but it would be interesting to see.
T-Head, I just did some checking and the average High Temp in Jan in SD is only 57 with 9 days in history having below 32 F low temps. I was rather surprised to read that.
Must be like minds......I was doing the same exact thing and found a high of 68 a low of 48 as average in SD. In SF the average high is 55 and the low 48.
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