1906 Vanderbilt Cup Coverage

Attached are articles from the Indianapolis Star that cover the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup won by Louis Wagner. Wagner also raced in the 1919 Indianapolis 500. Check out the files titled "VCR Drivers" for an interesting photographic image. This was the first of the Vanderbilt Cup Races that called to light the complete lack of crowd control the races over 12 to 30 miles of public roads required. This is what is referenced in the attached article "Abandon VCR."
 
The reason for the concern about the future of the race was a fatal accident to spectator Curt Gruner when the Hotchkiss driven by Elliott Shepard struck a man down in the middle of the race. The outrage was incendiary and Shepard narrowly averted legal prosecution. Gruner perished in the incident and the result was a call for the end of the Vanderbilt Cup International Road Race.
 
Shepard was the focus of controversy even before the race when he was accused of filing a protest against one of the Thomas entries driven by Herbert Le Blon. Shepard renounced the rumor but not before the racing community gossiped as is explained in the attached article, "VCR Shepard."
 
The attached item, "VCR drivers" is actually an image with headshots of 1905 Vanderbilt Cup winner Victor Hemery, Arthur Duray and Felice Nazzaro.
 
The final two articles paint the heart of the event. "VCRpre-race" is a nice race day morning summary that includes a list of the cars and drivers ready to start the race. The article that reports on the race is a tidy summary which inevitably focuses on the Shepard-Gruner incident.