Period RACE CAR Images to Relieve some of the Stress

[Studemax]

Yes.

[John E. Guitar]

American driver Elliot Shepard's Hotchkiss 12C on the embankment at La Fourche. 1906 ACF Grand Prix.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliott_Shepard

 

 

 

You can see the Hotchkiss on the embankment at the 9:22 mark in this great video:

 

 

La Fourche looks like a tight turn.

 

 

 

Here he is changing a tyre in the 1906 Vanderbuilt Cup.

 

Edited June 10 by John E. Guitar (see edit history)

[BobinVirginia]

Cool stuff! Thanks for sharing these photos and stories. They’ll be lost without the effort! Those guys were tough to do what they did then. Truly something to admire 

[AHa]

Those wire spoke wheels on that Hotchkiss look too spindly to hold up to the rigors of racing.

[wayne sheldon]

All these early racing cars are fantastic!

Thank you John E G!

[AHa]

23 hours ago, BobinVirginia said:

Those guys were tough to do what they did then.

It is environmental. When I was young, I primed tobacco. It was an extremely difficult job, but when you grow up in that environment, it's just part of everyday life. I could say people are much softer today and when I look at what these guys endured racing these early cars, I also admire them, but I also realize it was normal for their environment.

[wayne sheldon]

8 hours ago, AHa said:

It is environmental. When I was young, I primed tobacco. It was an extremely difficult job, but when you grow up in that environment, it's just part of everyday life. I could say people are much softer today and when I look at what these guys endured racing these early cars, I also admire them, but I also realize it was normal for their environment.

 

Very well put AHA.

The way I usually say it is "History needs to be viewed in the context of its time".

People back then didn't think it was strange to take fifteen minutes riding in an open car with no heat in a cold rainstorm to go a few miles. For people that had never been in a fully enclosed car, and had never seen a car with a heater in it, it was oh so much better than being on the back of a wet horse for half an hour going those same few miles in the rain.

[Dave Henderson]

On 4/25/2020 at 4:44 PM, Dave Henderson said:

A very poor copy of a copy of a picture taken in the yard of the Blake Brothers, Barry and Bob, of Arlington, Va. 
The white chain drive midget was said to be powered by a 4 cylinder Henderson motorcycle engine.  Note the model T front axle and the tow bar used for flat-towing to the track.

I failed to mention, that's the Bob Blake who signed on with Briggs Cunningham after working continuously night and day to reconstruct the wrecked aluminum bodied Le Monster built on a Cadillac chassis in time for the '50 Le Mans, and who, when production of the Cunningham cars came to an end was said by Cunningham to have built all the Cunningham cars.  After Cunningham closed Bob went with Jaguar and, reporting to and working with top management  contributed highly in prototype design and construction.   I had the honor and pleasure to have known Bob Blake in the 1940's.

[Walt G]

This is  Stutz being driven by Gil Anderson at Daytona Beach and comes from a page from the Stutz factory publication The Splendid Stutz. Not sure of exact date but believe the year is 1928, no date on the page. At this event Anderson set a record for a one mile stretch at 106.52 m.p.h.