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.

Consuelo Vanderbilt was not directly involved with auto racing, but her brother, William K. Vanderbilt, Jr., was. He founded the Vanderbilt Cup, America's first major auto race, in 1904. Consuelo's story is one of the age-old, sick ego that is at the heart of so much of humanity's woes.
 

In 1905 the biggest, most important auto race in the world was the James Gordon Bennett Cup. Bennett, the mercurial Paris editor of the New York Herald, was an avid sportsman enthused by horses, gas balloons, airplanes and race cars. He loved celebrating them in competition and becoming the center of attention by awarding the triumphant with trophies carrying his name.
 

One of the most curious cars in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup 923.3 cubic inch Premier purpose-built racer commissioned by Carl Fisher. Fisher, the most visionary of the four Speedway founders, was intent on representing America in the international road race.