Vanderbilt Cup Races

Over 75 people attended The Preservation Society of Newport County's Fall Gilded Age event including my presentation" The Incredible Vanderbilt Cup Races: The Road from Newport to Long Island." More than 100 people also participated by Zoom. Photo by Roz Kroplick.

The Preservation Society of Newport County has posted the 6:00 pm October 6, 2022 lecture/zoom program exploring modes of transportation in the Gilded Age. 

In-person ticket: $15 for members, $20 for non-members
Zoom ticket: $10

Preservation Society members: To receive your discount, click on the registration link below, then select the "Member Tickets" tab. You will be asked to log in to your account before purchasing the ticket.

Advance Registration Required

Below is a preview of the description of my presentation.  

Enjoy,

Howard Kroplick

The Incredible Vanderbilt Cup Races: The Road from Newport to Long Island

“Chain your dogs and lock up your fowls!” heralded posters throughout Long Island in announcing the first international road race ever to be held in America. From 1904 to 1910, six Vanderbilt Cup Races were held on Long Island roads. Developed from the imagination of William K. Vanderbilt, Jr., great grandson of millionaire Cornelius Vanderbilt, these races were the most prestigious and thrilling auto races of their day, drawing hundreds of thousands of spectators to Long Island.  Historian Howard Kroplick will relive auto racing’s earliest triumphs including Willie K.’s early racing in Newport to the development of the Long Island Motor Parkway- the first road built exclusively for automobiles. His presentation will feature photos from the private archives of William K. Vanderbilt, Jr., rare race films and an assortment of “Vanderbilia”. 

Howard Kroplick is a historian, author, creator of an award-winning automobile website and a leading expert on the Vanderbilt Cup Races and the Long Island Motor Parkway.

While serving as a Town of North Hempstead historian from 2012-2019, he was awarded the 2016 Edmund J. Winslow Local Government Historian Award for Excellence, given to one New York historian each year.  He has authored two books related to automobile racing history: The Vanderbilt Cup Races of Long Island and The Long Island Motor Parkway.

Howard created the VanderbiltCupRaces.com website dedicated to the history of automobile racing and car culture on Long Island. The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences has selected it as one of the five best in the world for "cars sites & car culture". In 2019, the Society of Automotive Historians honored the website with the E.P. Ingersoll Award for excellence in presentation of automotive history. Howard is the co-founder and president of the Long Island Motor Parkway Preservation Society and current co-president of the Roslyn Landmark Society.