1906 American Elimination Trial

This article from the September 23, 1906 edition of the Indianapolis Star provides and overview of the 1906 American Elimination Trial for the Vanderbilt Cup Race of the same year. The Vanderbilt Cup rules were modeled after the James Gordon Bennett Cup, the first major road race in the world. One central tennat of both races is that "teams" were formed for each country by combining representative manufacturers. The traditional methodology was to hold elimination trials by, in the case of the Vanderbilt Cup, limiting each country to five representatives determined through a qualification race.
 
In 1906 top honors were garnered by driver Joe Tracy in the Locomobile. Like most Vanderbilt Cup Races, this event endured controversy when the fourth-place finishing Pope Toledo in the hands of Herb Lytle was disqualified for accepting a push after stalling on the course to get back into the race.