Abstract
Automobiles originally appeared on American roads as the playthings of the wealthiest elite. Millionaires soon competed with each other for the bragging rights of owning the fastest imported racing car. Tycoons organized exclusive auto clubs along the lines of their yachting clubs and these organizations quickly grew beyond their initial social purposes and became both a political force and a governing body for motor sports.
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Notes
Richard Conniff, “Blame the Rich,” Smithsonian, 38:9 (Dec. 2007), pp. 102–109.
Burton J. Hendrick, “The Vanderbilt Fortune;” McClure’s Magazine, 32:1 (Nov. 1908), p. 46. Geoffry L. Rossano, “Long Island Goes to the Auto Races: The Great Vanderbilt Cup Controversy of 1904,” Long Island Historical Journal, 3:2, pp. 231–245.
Clay McShane, Down the Asphalt Path: The Automobile and the American City (New York: Columbia University Press, 1994), pp. 127–128.
Robert Dick, Mercedes and Auto Racing in the Belle Epoch, 1895–1915 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2005), p. 22; The Horseless Age, 4:13 (June 28, 1899), P. 6; 5:2 (Oct. 11, 1899), pp. 5, 6.
James J. Flink, America Adopts the Automobile, 1895–1910 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1970), p. 145; New York Times, Feb. 8, 1905, p. 7; New York Times, Mar. 22, 1906, p. 7; The Horseless Age, 5:10 (Dec. 6, 1899), p. 56. In 1908 ACA voted to allow women to become non-voting members of the club and thereby to have use of the garage and touring bureaus. However, they remained barred from the restaurant and club rooms. Women were only permitted in the “Ladies Room” under the stairs. New York Sun, Oct. 8, 1908, p. 9. ACA dues: The Motor World, 2:6 (May 9, 1901), p. 109.
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© 2014 Timothy Messer-Kruse
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Messer-Kruse, T. (2014). Millionaires’ Toys. In: Tycoons, Scorchers, and Outlaws: The Class War That Shaped American Auto Racing. Palgrave Pivot, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137322517_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137322517_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-45841-7
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