History Auto racing 1894-1942

Bob,

Thank you so much for adding your very thorough insight on Tetzlaff's LSR run in 1914!

...there were some things I didn't know!

 

I agree Robert good stuff-Jim

 

x3 I really appreciate you sharing your research on this remarkable event Robert

 

Great write up. I scored a little book on Land speed records written in the 30's that had a little quip on that event.

 

Robert is really an exceptional person, whom I finally had the good fortune to meet on the Salt at Bonneville this year for Speed Week. He is exceedingly knowledgeable on this subject as well as the New York -to- Paris Race of 1908...of which I am also an enthusiast.

Thanks again my friend!

 

Thanks everyone for the kind words, especially Clayton for the heads-up. The 1914 event is a passion of mine. I have been researching it for many, many years. Look for a complete telling of the tale as part of Landspeed Louis Noeth's revisioning of her Bonneville Salt Flats book, slated for publication next year, just in time for the Salt Centennial in 2014.
Bob.

 

Wow! Lots of great posts this week. I just can't get enough of this stuff.

In regards to Tommy Milton running at Daytona, I've read that a number of racers spent some time in Cuba during the spring of 1920. There was a nice piece in Motor Age that reported on this, and included a few pictures.

I was curious about the trip, and found some interesting photos from the Havana Oriental Race Track (sometimes referred to as the Havana Hippodrome). Below is a link which has photos of Cuban racer Marcelino Amador:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/umdigital/sets/72157623641929612/

Did any of the Americans race in Havana in 1920, or was the trip simply R&R, fine cigars, and rum cocktails?

 

that is super cool! always wanted to go see speed week, this maybe the nudge I needed.

 

Some chatter from autosport nostalgia forum.
note Pete De Paolo's recounting of his Uncle's tire strategy. :>)
http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=156194&hl=oriental
Carl

 

a whole pile of random non-sensical differences.

 

here is a real head scratcher of progression.

 

Ferndinand Charon with an Alda at the '14 GP

 

Could anyone let me have a direct email address for the archive at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, please?

I have tried contacing them through using the main IMS email address several times and have never received a reply!

 

The colorized Peugeot photo is GREAT....I stole it for a header photo on The Old Motor.

 

Enjoy...

 

ZZZ in King of the Boards Gary Doyle refers to it as both racing and an exhibition and I've seen it referred to as a demonstration somewhere else so I guess that's what it was.
Marcelino Amador seems to have been a man of means, thanks for those.

 

Nice antidote about the tire situation in Havana. I've read that the track, like most during this era, was primariy used for thouroughbred racing. Racers are always looking for an edge.

I found a copy of Louie's 1920 passport application (see below). The stated nature of the Cuba trip was "automobile business". I remember reading in Motor Age that there was talk of possibly building a new board track in Havana. Sheepshead Bay had shut down, and the drivers would have embraced the idea of a new track.

 

1913 GP Delage:

 

Great Voisin shot!

http://www.velocetoday.com/1923-french-grand-prix-part-2/

 

Tons of great drawings here:

http://lcrazzy.myftp.biz/art/_wally/Wally_Pierre_Dumont_-_Automobiles/

 

Great link!
Thanks for posting.

 

Tazio Nuvolari repairing a Bianchi having dual overhead cams(ca. 1926).

 

After Fur Buscuit posted this neat colorized photo of a Peugeot, it prompted us to put together a detailed post on The Old Motor about these fine cars. Below is one page of four from a detailed article in The Automobile dated Sept. 26, 1912. Below that is the first of two pages from The Automobile dated Feb. 12, 1914, telling and showing the updates made to the car and the engines. All can be seen on The Old Motor.

 

great stuff on the GP Peugeot!!!

 

Wow, that is one HECK of a collection....good find!

 

Glad you enjoyed it, it is always interesting to learn more about them.

In case you missed it I posted this photo of Burman at Indy as it is one of the best photos I have seen of one yet. On The Old Motor we also have three sectional enlargements so you can see it in great detail. Can anyone give us a postive ID the CAC badge on the hood??

 

Doug,I had one of those badges years ago.The "C" was shaped much like the "C" in the Chicago Cubs emblem.I thought perhaps the Chicago Atheletic Club.It was painted Blue and red.I mounted it to a plaque I had made and gave it to my sister who held her wedding reception at the Chicago Athletic Club.I know I have promised a lot of images,I'll see if I can get her to get me an image.

Bob

 

great image! I love the miller carb control on the side of the body, i have one of those for a model T ford.

 

I'm a bit late on the LSR debate, and I must admit to not having read through all the relevant posts (time!), but I just wanted to chime in and remind everyone that the AAA was not a member of the AIACR until 1928. Before that, the ACA was the official member for the USofA (in fact, they were still the official member after 1928 until, I believe, ACCUS was formed, but delegated all matters to the AAA). Had the ACA timed the record runs of de Palma, Milton et al, they would have been accepted by the AIACR, but the AAA was an "outlaw" from an international point of view. Having said that, I have absolutely no doubt about the veracity of the AAA records - this organisation was perhaps the most bureaucratic and pedantic sanctioning body in the world, probably even more so than the ACF.

I could go on and on about the politics involved, but have neither the time nor the inclination to do so right now. Fact is, the Hornsted record was the "AIACR record", and as such accepted by virtually every sporting authority in the world, including the ACA (!), while de Palma and Milton held the "AAA record", accepted only by the AAA which, at the time, was the de facto sporting authority of the US. And to complete the picture, there was also the fraudulent "IMCA record" of Sig Haugdahl, accepted by the IMCA which was to auto racing what "professional wrestling" is to olympic wrestling today - basically, an entertainment spectacle.

The AAA, it has to be said, always accepted all AIACR records, not least because they really wanted to be admitted to this august body. I have a 1970 USAC media guide (USAC being essentially the AAA under a new name), which has a chapter on "The History of the Mile Record", and here all AIACR records were listed as "World's" records, with the AAA records (including Ford, Burman, de Palma and Milton) as "American" records. Bureaucratic, and correct!

 

Difficult to say from the surroundings, but I'm sure this is Jerry Wonderlich in the "real" ex-Dubonnet GP Duesey at Beverly Hills on April 2, 1922, or possibly at San Carlos a fortnight later. The riding mechanic is presumably Ray Cariens. Both Harry Hartz's and Wonderlich's car were repeatedly described as being the former Dubonnet car, but from the road registration we can see that Hartz had the ex-Boyer car.