Roosevelt Raceway

The W.K. Vanderbilt Cup had ranked alongside the American Grand Prize as the country’s most prestigious road races from 1904-15. W.K. Vanderbilt jr’s nephew George Washington Vanderbilt III revived the title on a new circuit designed by Art Pillsbury and Mark Linentral on the site of Roosevelt Field on New York’s Long Island in 1936. The flat and wide-open Roosevelt Raceway was built on the grand scale with imposing grandstand and safety in mind. Heathy prize money attracted a three-car entry from Scuderia Ferrari for whom Tazio Nuvolari (Alfa Romeo 12C-36) beat Jean-Pierre Wimille’s Bugatti by over eight minutes. As well as receiving a huge trophy and $20,000, it is said to be the first time a race winner was given a celebratory bottle of champagne. The overly tight and bumpy course had been criticised, so it was eased with a banked final corner for 1937. Having missed 1936, Auto Union and Mercedes sent two cars - Bernd Rosemeyer beating Richard Seaman by 51.03sec. However, the promoter had over-reached itself and it closed to racing cars after holding the 1939 National Midget Championship on a short oval by the startline before being converted into a half-mile horse track that operated until 1988. The SCCA organised one final race meeting in 1960 on a 1.5-mile temporary course in the car park that included the Cornelius Vanderbilt Cup for Formula Junior cars.