1906 Vanderbilt Cup

Just like the 1906 Vanderbilt Elimination Race, this race was stopped as the crowd invaded the course.

Classification

See also

1936 Vanderbilt Cup

The 1936 Vanderbilt Cup (formally known as I George Vanderbilt Cup) was a Grand Prix that was held on 12 October 1936 at Roosevelt Raceway near Westbury, Long Island, New York City, USA. It was the fourth and last race of the 1936 AAA Championship Car season, not counting the non-championship events. The race, contested over 75 laps of 6.39 km (3.97 mi), was won by Tazio Nuvolari driving a Alfa Romeo 12C-36 after starting from eighth position.

Background

For the history of the Vanderbilt Cup: see Vanderbilt Cup

This was the first time that the Vanderbilt Cup was held since 1916. George Washington Vanderbilt III, the nephew of the founder of the Vanderbilt Cup, William Kissam Vanderbilt II, sponsored a 300-mile race (480 km) in 1936 at Roosevelt Raceway. Just like in the original races, European drivers were enticed by the substantial prize money - Scuderia Ferrari entered three Alfa Romeo racers. However, because of little American competition and an unexciting course layout, the race was organised for only two years. Both races were won by Europeans. After 1937, the Vanderbilt Cup would not be raced until 1960.

Vanderbilt Cup

The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing.

History

An international event, it was founded by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904 and first held on October 8 on a course set out in Nassau County on Long Island, New York. The announcement that the race was to be held caused considerable controversy in New York, bringing a flood of legal actions in an attempt to stop the race. The politicians soon jumped in, holding public hearings on the issue. Vanderbilt prevailed and the inaugural race was run over a 30.24 miles (48.7 km) course of winding dirt roads through the Nassau County area.

Vanderbilt put up a large cash prize hoping to encourage American manufacturers to get into racing, a sport already well organized in Europe that was yielding many factory improvements to motor vehicle technology. The race drew the top drivers and their vehicles from across the Atlantic Ocean, some of whom had competed in Europe's Gordon Bennett Cup. The first Long Island race featured seventeen vehicles and the newspaper and poster art promotion drew large crowds hoping to see an American car defeat the mighty European vehicles. However, George Heath won the race in a Panhard and another French vehicle, a Darracq, took the Cup the next two years straight. Crowd control was a problem from the start and after a spectator, Curt Gruner, was killed in 1906, the race was cancelled. Meanwhile, in France, the first Grand Prix motor racing event had been run on June 26, 1906, under the auspices of the Automobile Club de France in Sarthe. One of the competitors was American Elliot Shepard, the son of Margaret Vanderbilt-Shepard and a cousin of William Kissam Vanderbilt.