Vanderbilt Cup

The Vanderbilt Cup was the first major trophy in American auto racing. It was an important event that brought together the best drivers to race on public roads. The competition helped make auto racing popular in the United States.

For a different kind of competition, see the contract bridge competition called the Vanderbilt Trophy.

The Vanderbilt Cup races were exciting and drew large crowds of spectators who came to watch the fast-paced action. These events played a big role in showing how far automobile technology had come at the time.

History

The Vanderbilt Cup was the first big car race in America, started by William Kissam Vanderbilt II in 1904. The first race took place on October 8 in Nassau County on Long Island, New York. Many people tried to stop the race, but Vanderbilt continued, and the first race covered 30.24 miles (48.7 km) of winding dirt roads.

Vanderbilt wanted to encourage American car makers to join the racing world, which was already popular in Europe. Top drivers from across the Atlantic Ocean came to compete, including some who had raced in Europe’s Gordon Bennett Cup. The first race had seventeen cars, and many people came to watch. Although an American car didn’t win at first, a French car did. Later, a local hero, George Robertson from Garden City, New York, won in an American car, a Locomobile, in 1908. The race moved around, including to Savannah, Georgia, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and places in California, before stopping during World War I in 1917. The race started again in 1936, sponsored by George Washington Vanderbilt III, but it only ran for two more years.

Trophies

The original Vanderbilt Cup is made of silver and stands about 2.5 feet tall. It shows a picture of William K. Vanderbilt II driving his car on the Daytona Beach Road Course in 1904. Today, this cup is kept in a storage place at the Smithsonian Institution and cannot be seen by visitors.

Another cup, called the George Vanderbilt Cup, can be viewed at Museo Nicolis in Verona.

Race winners

The Vanderbilt Cup was the first big race prize in the United States for car racing. Many skilled drivers won this important competition over the years.

1960s attempted revivals

After the 1937 event, the Vanderbilt Cup name did not appear in United States motor racing for over twenty years. In the 1960s, the Sports Car Club of America tried to bring back the Vanderbilt Cup name by holding several races for lower-level competition. The 1960 race, sponsored by Cornelius Vanderbilt IV, featured famous drivers Jim Rathmann and Rodger Ward and was a Formula Junior event held at Roosevelt Raceway. In 1965, 1967, and 1968, the Bridgehampton Sports Car Races were called the Vanderbilt Cup. After the 1968 event, the Vanderbilt Cup name did not appear again for 28 years.

Revival trophy

In 1996, there was a big change in Indy car racing because of a disagreement between two groups. To honor the history of racing, a copy of the original Vanderbilt Cup was made for the winner of a new race called the U.S. 500. This race happened just once and then stopped.

Later, the Vanderbilt Cup copy was used as a trophy for the top racer in the CART series. After CART stopped, another group kept using the same trophy. Even though there was a plan to use it for the top IndyCar racer, that never happened. Instead, since 2011, the top IndyCar racer gets a different trophy called the Astor Challenge Cup.