Here is the caption. "Howard Hughes, Sr. in Touring Car Original caption: Howard Hughes Sr., seated beside Barney Oldfield I (in drivers seat) in 1905 touring car which Hughes rebuilt and "hopped up" to beat race car of Col. E.H.R. Green (standing in rear)." Thanks Kurtis,I`d be interested in any information you might find. This race sounds interesting.
I had first read about the Hughes Peerless in an Aero magazine although not much was mentioned except that it was modified from a Touring model. The only other info i have is the only two races it contested at the Dallas Jockey Club. The first being the 1905 100mile on January 2nd, said to be the first 100 mile auto race on a purpose closed course. The second race was the Great Texas Handicap run over 5 miles later in Febuary. In both races Hughes is listed as the driver while Green was the winner in the 100 mile race. As to the photo mentioning E.H.R.Green, that was in reference to the match race that was to take place between the two. Here is some info describing the events that took place up to the proposed day of the race. Notice how many times it was postponed. On the 4th of January 1905, E.H.R.Green challenged Howard Hughes to a 50 mile race on the Texas Fairgrounds track to be held on the 11th of Febuary. Green was to use his Pope-Toledo {driven by Ollie Savin} and Hughes his Peerless although Wharton was allowed to enter with his Columbia. Wharton instead bought a 60hp machine at the end of January to challenge the winner to another race. However come the 8th of Febuary, the track was declared too soft and the races were postponed until the grounds became good. The races were rescheduled for the 22nd of Febuary and a trophy of $1000 purchased although the race was again put back until Saturday 25th after one of Oldfields machines was damaged in a race at New Orleans and required a day or two for repairs. Come race day though, it was announced again the race would go ahead the following Saturday. Hughes' car though suffered damage and needed repairs and the race was postponed for the 1st of April. However during a practice run on the 25th of March, Louis D'Rango crashed Hughes' car through the fencing at the track. He had been lapping at 1min 11sec. when a tire was thrown from the wheel causing the car to go out of control. D'Rango and his passenger Jess Illingsworth escaped bruising but the car was sufficiently damaged that it was unable to take place in the challenge. The challenge seems to have been postponed indefinitely.
I have been unable to find any information on this 1914 Hughes-Rayfield Indycar. Does anyone know anything about it?
Kurtis's ID of the Car Oldfield is in all fits as the Peerless in the first photo is the Ex. Dick Teague 1904 and the front end construction is identical. Please excuse the poor photo.
Makes sense with Oldfield`s Peerless connection as well. Kurtis,thanks for the info on the Hughes-Green contests. As it the Indycar-interesting design with radiator at cowl and needle nose. I hope someone knows more about that car.
Back to yesterday and the Nationals. I found more photos that I forgot I had all from Indy 1910. Left: Tom Kincaid in 100 mile Remy race. Middle:Howdy Wilcox 100 mile Remy race. Look at leather lungs with the megaphone! Right: Johnny Aitken 200 mile Wheeler-Schebler Trophy race. I do not know how they finished. Does anyone know if those are horns or sirens above the sireno banner in the middle photo?
Tom Kincaid in 100 mile Remy race. 5th place. Howdy Wilcox 100 mile Remy race. 13th(last) place. Johnny Aitken 200 mile Wheeler-Schebler Trophy race.--3rd place Aitken was also 11th in the Remy 100 miles.
And one more National beside Dawsons winner that we looked at yesterday for comparison. David Bruce-Brown on the left who was out after 24 laps because of a valve problem. The right photo, Dawson again in the 1912 Winner. Interestedly they both look almost identical but Bruce-Browns car has a starting crank moved out front.
Kurtis.....I have an article on the company that I think I can find. They had a big involvement with racing with their carburetors and I believe there is some information on this car in the article. I will try to post it later if I can find it. I have been meaning to as I have the same photo. In the mean time here is an advertisement with Smiling Ralph Mulford on it. Could this be from 1911 when he finished 2nd w/the controversy and the Marmon?
Thanks for the confirmation of the scrapping of the Oldfield Christie. I knew the car survived WWI in the hands of Lou Disbrow. I had dreams that maybe it was in a field somewhere in Canada. Oh well.
I Want to see if I can post links to NY Times PDF articles here. There is Christie content. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9F0CE3D71F3EE733A25755C1A96F9C946797D6CF Looks like the answer is yes. Tons of great early racing stuff on there for FREE before 1923. Another Christie Article..... http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E0DE4DF1438E033A25756C1A96E9C946897D6CF
I dug into the NYTimes awhile back, there are dozens of articles on Christie and of course the Vanderbilt races. It's nice that they are not charging for articles. Newspaper Archive will allow you to see the entire newspaper but they do charge a quarterly fee.
I also find some good stuff on the Library of Congress here http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ It was supposed to be expanded to more papers and more states,but doesn`t seem like that has been happening so far. NYT has over 400 articles on Oldfield,same for Ralph De Palma,over 3,000 Vanderbilt Cup article results. 4,300 for the topic Automobile racing.
The Rayfield Bros. first designed a very successful carburetor that was manufactured by others. The first photo shows the Rayfield camp at Indy to help the racers with their carbs. They next designed a car that was built in Springfield, Illinois in 1911. It was not a success and they were lured to Chrisman, Illinois to built a new car there for investors. As the new factory was being set up William Rayfield built a race car from the old design (second photo) with a 6 cyl. and entered it in the 1912 Elgin road races. It was a Renault type design with a 6 cylinder engine. It started second (third photo) but cracked a main bearing on the second lap which put them out of the race, the car was driven by John Hobbs. While the Rayfield was being built at the Chrisman factory he spent two years designing the second race car shown in the bottom photos (Kurtis posted a photo earlier). He brought in Hughie Hughes the Mercer driver to help him build the very unique car. They did make it to Indy with the car and announced that it had run a 1:40 lap @ 95 mph. On May 28 Th. Hughes showing off over revved the engine and shattered the crankcase which put them out of the race. This was probably caused by torsional vibration and over revving a six at idle will also brake a crankshaft. The Rayfield Car Co. as many other during the same time struggled and was out of business in 1916. The racer was sold to a Chicago sportsman name Thomson to race but nothing is known of it past then.
T-Head, Great job putting all this together about the Rayfield car! That last photo is at Indy and really shows the Narrow front opening very well.
Photos from the Brooklands 500 mile race in 1932. Clive Dunfee unfortunately dies during the race in this beautiful 8 litre Bentley.
I have had these photos for a while, it is a Ford based racer that has had a lot of effort put into its construction. The photos look to be taken at a board track and were with a batch that of photos from new car dealers from the Bay area of California. Can anyone shed any light on this one?
The body looks slightly different with a bead around the cockpit but it''s it keeping with the other 'older restoration' features like the double skin on the tail. The fairing and crank handle support look quite different on this car. I found some more pictures of Miss Blevins and the car at Benning Maryland 1916
Thanks for posting the photos. This car is well known here and was restored to look like a Stutz team car after changes in ownership after these photos were taken in the 50's or 60's. It is the same car as in the photos you posted from the DC area. Best, T-H
That radiator in the background is on the 1919 Hudson Ira Vail drove in the INDY 500 that year. Lineage on that car is HUDSON Factory. Ira Vail, H.D.Carpenter in Phidelphia, Cameron Peck, Lindley Bothwell, Bill Harrah, Ton Barrett, Blackhawk Collection, ?? It is on my Top Six list after I win LOTTO.
Board track photo may be at San Carlos in the Bay Area. Maybe Fresno or Cotati Has a Licence plate on the rear. I never saw that car before. This thread is so much fun.
Indeed. A rather obscure footnote in Miller history. Weaver was ultimately not allowed to qualify the car due to AAA licensing rules, not that the car would have been competitive anyway. I believe this car is in the Indy museum now, though I'm not 100% sure. Weaver had at least two FDs... Cris
Did someone mention Hudson?-Grin... 1916 Sheepshead Bay-Ralph Mulford \ 1916-Santa Monica-Billy Carlson-Ernie Olson-Hudson I think this one was already posted,but I never get tired of the railroad/racing connection of the early days of racing. The fact it is a Hudson is icing on the cake. Mulford in the 1917 Hudson racer? 1917-Hudson Team http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/4412802856_05904ee531_o.jpg[/IMG Ira Vail in action at Sheepshead Bay Mulford was in the #9 Frontenac that day. [IMG]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4031/4412046147_d66764a045_o.jpg 1918-Sheepshead bay-Dan Hickey 1919-Ascot Speedway Tolland Nicholson-Hudson
Thanks Buildy, I've always liked that Hudson railroad car photo ever since I saw it in Automobile Quarterly in the Ira Vail feature.
Great Hudson photos in the above post except for one. The photo labeled "1916-Santa Monica-Billy Carlson-Ernie Olson-Hudson" is most likely incorrect. Billy Carlson died at Tacoma in July of 1915 driving a Maxwell. Unless there were two Carlsons, that is not him. Bob.
The Jalopy Journal
