The Longest Auto Race Ever

THE LONGEST AUTO RACE EVER
Ralph Igler, Museum of American Heritage

250,000 people gathered at Times Square in New York City on a very cold Lincoln's birthday in 1908. They were there to witness the start of the first and only "Around the World" automobile race. The route was to take contestants west to San Francisco, north to Seattle, by ship to Valdez, Alaska, down the frozen Yukon River to the Bering Straits, over the ice to Siberia, continuing west to Paris, the final destination.

The race was promoted by the Parisian newspaper "Le Matin"; thirteen cars were originally listed as contestants, but only six showed up that frigid morning of race day. The auto lineup consisted of the German Protos, the French Sizaire- Naudin, the Italian Zust, the French De Dion and Motobloc, and finally, the American Thomas Flyer.

The worst blizzard of the winter began as the racers left New York. What should have been a 4-day drive to Chicago took over 13 days. A good part of the trip was spent shoveling snow. The Sizaire-Naudin had dropped out along the route. They rolled westward out of Chicago on February 28, to find that what had been snow was now axle-deep mud. It was frequently necessary to drive on the railroad ties of the Southern and Union Pacific Railroads to keep moving.

The Thomas arrived in San Francisco on March 24th, well ahead of the others. About this same time, the Zust was still in Utah and the Protos and De Dion were in Wyoming, all pushing west. However, the Motobloc gave up in Carroll, Iowa.

The Flyer went by ship to Seattle and on north to Valdez, Alaska. By this time some sanity had prevailed and decisions were made in Paris drop the Yukon-Bering Straits route. It was back on the ship for the Thomas and the return to Seattle, only to find that the Zust and De Dion had been shipped to Japan; all of the cars eventually drove across Japan without incident. The Protos broke down in Idaho and was sent by rail to Seattle. The Protos was fined 15 days for this, and then shipped directly to Vladivostok, Russia for repairs.

The cars re-grouped in Vladivostok and on May 22 were ready to depart. At this point the De Dion was withdrawn, and the remaining three cars started across Manchuria for Harbin. Driving conditions were dreadful, with axle deep mud a common condition. The cars took to the tracks of the trans- Siberian Railroad, eventually reaching Lake Baikal and Irkutsk in Siberia, where repairs were made.

During this period, the cars were running neck to neck with the lead constantly changing, but the Zust fell behind. They were now driving the Moscow Post Track, and the route was slightly improved, although crossing the great rivers of Siberia was a problem. The transmission of the Thomas had been giving trouble for some time and a new one was ordered, to be picked up en route. Finding the transmission and the installation took five days, giving the Protos a long lead.

The Thomas arrived in Moscow on July 20th and after several banquets and some needed repairs, it set out after the Protos. It rolled through St. Petersburg and Berlin, arriving in Paris on July 30, 169 days and over 13,000 miles from New York. The Protos had arrived a few days sooner, but the fifteen day penalty made the Thomas the victor of the longest race in history. The Zust finished on September 17th. The Thomas drivers were Montaque Roberts, who drove across the United States, and George Schuster, driving over Asia and Europe.

The Thomas Flyer was restored to its race condition by William Harrah, and is on display at Reno's National Auto Museum, in a fine diorama of a setting along the route.