Mystery Foto #30 Solved: Louis Wagner Driving a S74 FIAT at the 1911 American Grand Prize in Savannah
I challenged you to identify this amazing Long Islander.
Mystery Foto questions:
- Identify the driver, racer and location of the Mystery Foto
Louis Wagner driving the mighty S74 FIAT at the 1911 American Grand Prize in Savannah, Georgia.
- Link the driver to the Vanderbilt Cup Races
Wagner won the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race in the #10 Darraqc.
- What were the driver's greatest racing accomplishments?
Wagner won both the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race, the 1908 American Grand Prize and the 1923 British Grand Prix.
- The Mystery driver was involved in which other racing activities? What was his greatest accomplishments in these areas?
No applicable answer for Louis Wagner. I thought the Mystery Foto was the #41 FIAT driven by Caleb Bragg in the 1911 American Grand Prize.
- Outside of racing, what were his other significant accomplishments?
As per Steve Lucas, he was also an early aviation pioneer flying a Hanriot bi-plane. Awarded an Aviator’s Certificate in 1910 by the Aero-Club De France in 1910, he was one of the “Flying Men At Bournemouth” in 1910
- Link the driver to Long Island
No applicable answer for Louis Wagner. Caleb Bragg lived in Sands Point and Montauk.
- Kudos question: Link the driver to Broadway
Wagner watched Elsie Janis perform in 1906 in the Broadway musical "Vanderbilt Cup".
Comments (4)
Congrats and kudos to Greg O. , Steve Lucas and Brian McCarthy for correctly identifying Louis Wagner driving the S74 FIAT and the "Vanderbilt Cup" Broadway performance.
Enjoy,
Howard Kroplick
Close-Up
Wagner at the 1911 American Grand Prize. Courtesy of the Detroit Public Library.
1911 American Grand Prize
#41 S74 FIAT driven by Long Islander Caleb Brown in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Note: The font for "4" is different from the Mystery Foto
Comments
Louis Wagner with the S74 Fiat at the Savannah American Grand Prize races in 1911. His greatest victories were the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race with a 80-hp Darracq and the 1908 American Grand Prize with a 120-hp Fiat.
From vcr.com; “In subsequent years he poured most of his energies into aviation, which was particularly critical during World War I. Wagner prospered working for Aeroplanes Hanriot et Cie, a French aviation company which developed planes for Salmson, a French manufacturer. He was a participant at many of the early flying meetings.”
Louis Wagner was present for the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races Broadway play. Caption for the photo below;
From left to right are: Ralph Mongini (driver in the 1905 and 1906 American trials); Walter Christie (driver in the 1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races); George Robertson (driver in the 1905 American Elimination Trial and winner of the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race); Elsie Janis; Louis Wagner (driver in the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup Race and winner of the 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race); on the running board, Al Poole (mechanician for Joe Tracy in the 1904,1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races); Joe Tracy (driver in the 1904,1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races) and, to the far right, Louis Vivet (mechanician for Louis Wagner in the winning 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Race car).
Foxhall Keene
Horse racing, polo player, football, shooting, golf, boxer
Best all around polo player in the US for 8 straight years
Entered in 1901 the Paris to Berlin race
Won gold medal for polo at the 1900 summer Olympics
Semifinalist in the 1883 US Tennis and quarterfinalist at the 1885 Tennis tournaments.
Drove in the 1905, 1908 VCRs, 1903 Gordon Bennett Race
Delmonicos in NYC named a dish after him - Chicken a la Keene
Cheered at by “Broadway Loafers”
Built a Long Island mansion named Rosemary Farm in Old Westbury
Any monster THAT big just HAS to be a FIAT! ‘Ceptin’ it doesn’t appear on the FIAT racer blog page. Hmm? Seems to be a 1908 FIAT SB4. Sam, III
That’s Louis Wagner driving a Fiat S74 during the 1911 American Grand Prix (11/30/1911) in Savannah , GA. He participated in the 1905 and 1906 Vanderbilt Cup Races. Among his many racing accomplishments were winning the 1906 V. C. Race and the first American Grand Prize in 1908 and the first British Grand Prix in 1926 (along with partner Senechal). He was also an early aviation pioneer flying a Hanriot bi-plane. Awarded an Aviator’s Certificate in 1910 by the Aero-Club De France in 1910, he was one of the “Flying Men At Bournemouth” in 1910. The only Long Island link I could find was that he stayed at the Hotel Glenwood in Glenwood Landing as a member of the Darracq team. The Broadway link could be that he and several other Vanderbilt Cup Racers had box seats for the 1906 stage show “The Vanderbilt Cup” starring Elsie Janis.
I’m having trouble deciding if the man at the wheel is Joe Tracy or Louis Wagner. I’ll answer the questions and see what happens.
*ID driver, racer, location: As far as I know, Joe Tracy never raced in a FIAT. Louis Wagner drove FIATS. So this is Louis Wagner in a FIAT, believe the location is Savannah, GA. Louis won the American Grand Prize Race - 11/26/1908. His car was #14 FIAT. This #41 FIAT is a mystery to me.There was a #41 Chalmers Detroit, 1909 Massapequa Sweepstakes and a #41 FAL CAR, 1910 Wheatley Sweepstakes. Neither Auto matches the mystery.
*Link driver to the VCR’s: Joe Tracy participated in 5 races affiliated with the Vanderbilt Cup years 1904 thru 1906. He placed 3rd in the 1905 VCR & placed 1st in the 1906 American Elimination Race. His mechanician was always Al Poole. The passenger in the mystery isn’t Al Poole.
Louis Wagner placed 1st in the 1906 VCR. The passenger in the mystery could be Louis Vivet, mechanician for Louis Wagner.
*Other/Outside activities & accomplishments: Joe Tracy - 1902 patent for Automatic Igniter for Automobile Engines, 1910 - invented Reaction Dynanometers for testing engines, 1926 - invented a Fluid Dynanometer. Louis Wagner - entered the aviation industry ( Aeroplanes Hanriot et Cie ). He became a pilot.
*Long Island link: Joe Tracy worked for the Southampton Automotive Museum ( Austin Clark ). Joe is RIP in the Brentwood Cemetery. Louis Wagners link to Long Island is the races as far as I know.
*Broadway Link: Joe Tracy, Louis Wagner & Louis Vivet are all linked to the 1906 musical - The Vanderbilt Cup.
This one is out of my scope. I don’t even recognize the grandstand. Probably ouside NY. Looking forward to the answers
Usually the ‘Kudo’ question is the most difficult, but I’m glad it was included here. We may have been puzzled without the Broadway connection.
Anybody have blueprints or a line drawings of the 1911 Fiat S74?
Thanks
Tall order Dex! The Beast of Turin was a one-off and most likely built on the fly.