The Dangerous "U" Turn

It's easy to think of the brave, talented drivers of long ago as old men because if they survived their careers, that is what they became. Old men. In their day they were daring young studs who tested their limits.
 
Along with stars like Joe Dawson and Charlie Merz, George Robertson was one of a host of talented youngsters in the formative days of auto racing known as "The Heroic Age." His biggest victory was the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup, America's first major race. He also won at Philadelphia's Fairmount Park and numerous track races, including 24-hour "grinders."
 

At barely 22 years old he was brought on as the hot shoe for Kokomo, Indiana's Apperson factory team. He was at the wheel of the awesome "Jackrabbit," racer when something awful happened during practice for the Vanderbilt Cup American Elimination Trial the morning of September 19, 1906.
 
Gunning his mount into a hairpin turn on the 29-mile Long Island public roads course, Robertson got in too hot. He lost control and literally wrapped his Apperson machine around a telegraph pole near the edge of the running surface. Although they were badly injured, both he and riding mechanic Arthur Warren eventually recovered.
 
The contributions of the Vanderbilt Cup to the sport of auto racing and to the American automotive industry cannot be overestimated. This was the first major American auto race and successfully staged international competition with the top factories in the world participating in its first three editions. It provided the competitive stage for American manufacturers to improve their products and elevate them to world-class status.
 
None of that would have been possible without young men so passionate about testing their abilities and developing their craft. The image you can see here is of that dangerous curve - complete with telegraph poles - on the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup course. If you click thru you will find more information about George Robertson who not only had an amazing career as a young race driver, but lived on to become one of those old men with a life well lived.
 
But you have to click thru...