Kincaid Storms French Lick

This image of National Motor Vehicle Company star driver Tom Kincaid racing up the hill at French Lick was published in the Indianapolis News on October 20, 1909. National had sent two of its other top drivers - Johnny Aitken and Charlie Merz to the Vanderbilt Cup and dispatched Kincaid to southern Indiana.
 
The short article published with the photo is transcribed below.
 
"The new National forty, 1910 model, driven by Thomas Kincaid, covered itself with glory last Saturday at the French Lick hill climb, covering the distance in thirty seconds flat from a standing start. The hill was 1,485 feet long and varied from 10 to 40 percent.
 
The National forty used was one of the regular stock models of the National factory, equipped with a touring car body, which did not seem to handicap it The chassis of this machine was an exact duplicate of the two National forty stock cars used on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the recent races in August. Two duplicates of this car, equipped for road racing, have been entered by the National company in the Vanderbilt races to be held on Long Island on October 30. One car will be driven by John Aitken, who holds the world's one-hundred-mile record, established on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the other car will be driven by Charles C. Merz, who made a great record on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but who met with an unfortunate accident on the last day of the races. Merz is at the National factory now superintending the finishing touches that are being placed on these two Vanderbilt cars. He will leave for New York tomorrow with John Aitken and A.C. Newby, secretary of the National Motor Vehicle Company, where with Aitken he will begin practicing on the Vanderbilt course as soon as the machines reach New York. This should be not later than Wednesday of this week as the entire racing outfit is to be shipped by express.
 
These new National forty cars, duplicates of that used at French Lick hill climb, have shown speed of seventy-five miles an hour on the highways on the high gear and as much as sixty-six miles an hour on second speed."