Early Ford Racing: 1909 Transcontinental Race
Ford Number 2 (Model T, Bert Scott, Charles Smith) Arrives First at Seattle After a Breathtaking Sprint Across the Great Undeveloped West.
M. Robert Guggenheim and his charges lay down the framework for the proposed Great Transcontinental Race; the entrants will begin the trek on June 2 at Gotham’s City Hall and follow a pacesetter vehicle (a Ford Model T) in procession style through the states of New York (waypoints Poughkeepsie, Syracuse, Buffalo), Pennsylvania (Erie), Ohio (Toledo), and Illinois (Chicago) before a final cruise to the Mississippi River crossing at St. Louis. After the river crossing, the vehicles will then set off upon an unencumbered challenge dash across undeveloped terrain to the Great Northwest. The rules permit each entry a primary driver and relief, as well as onroad and overnight repairs with the exception of engine or axle replacement.
The race gets off to an inauspicious start when only four makes line up at Gotham’s City Hall for the start; the 20 horsepower Ford (two spartan-clad entries), the 50 horsepower Acme, the 40 horsepower Shawmut, and the 45 horsepower Itala. The other major automobile manufacturers, clearly reluctant to put their model offerings to the test through the rough country west of St. Louis, instead choose to side with the MCA and oppose the event on the specious grounds that the race (1), will encourage violation of speed laws (ignoring the fact that the cars will follow a pacesetter through St. Louis and thereafter pass through territory in overwhelming part not subject to driving regulations), and (2), will only serve as a test of driver rather than vehicle endurance. Guggenheim simply scoffs at the empty excuses proferred by the MCA and proceeds with his race plans.
After POTUS William H. Taft starts the race from his office in Washington in coordination with the start of Seattle’s Yukon-Alaska Pacific Exposition, the five cars, following the pacesetter and pursued by a long queue of private car owners, proceeds en train north through New York State before turning west for Chicago. The Fords (driven by quartet of Frank Kulick, H.B. Harper, Bert Scott, and Charles Smith) and the Shawmut, arrive at St. Louis on June 7 in good working order, while mechanicals and illness delay the Acme and Itala entries. A Stearns Motor entry starts the race a day late and desperately dashes west to catch the procession, yet mechanicals prevent the same from reaching the Mississippi.
Once in the West, the race rules release the drivers to their own devices and the rugged terrain swiftly trims the event down to a two-marque matchup between the highly prepared Fords and the surprise Shawmut, a once suspect entry that remarkably manages to handle the rough roads, ford the streams, and execute its waypoint overhauls all without factory support. Ford Number 1 (Kulick, Harper) wins the waypoints at Kansas City and Manhattan, Kansas (the halfway point), yet mechanicals force the lead entry to cede the point to the upstart Shawmut through Limon, Colorado and Cheyenne, Wyoming. The race’s first controversy strikes at the Platte River crossing just east of Rawlings, Wyoming, where the Union Pacific Railroad demands a permit to cross its span. The Fords, already prepared for such a hitch, present their permit and leave the furiously empty handed Shawmut on the eastern bank. The race appears decided as the Shawmut awaits permit approval by wire from Omaha, yet in a twist of fortune, both Fords haplessly break down just west of Rawlings and allow the delayed Shawmut to again move to the lead.
The Fords again overtake the Shawmut as the cars enter Eastern Idaho, yet misfortune again plague the leaders when Ford-1 gets hopelessly lost on the high intermountain plateau. All seems in alignment for a surprise Shawmut upset until the indefatigable Ford-2 entry (Scott, Smith) unleashes a burst of speed that earns the same waypoint honors at both Boise and Baker City, Oregon. Pressing its advantage, Ford-2 opens an eight hour lead over the Shawmut through Walla Walla, Washington on up to the Cascades. After crossing Keechelus, a Cascades’ mountain lake, by ferry and navigating the still snowbound Snoqualmie Pass, Ford-2 coasts downhill into Seattle on June 23 for a wide margin yet still dramatic race victory. The transcontinental journey takes a tad over twenty-two days from start to finish.
The Shawmut arrives in the Emerald City on the following day and immediately files a protest against the Ford victory, alleging (1), that the winners received preferential treatment at the Fort Steele-Platte River train crossing in Wyoming, (2), that the Ford factory planted an experienced mountain driver from Seattle at the Snoqualmie Pass in order to navigate Ford-2 through the snowdrifts, and (3), that Ford-2 replaced its front axle at Rawlings, Wyoming. After investigating the charges, Guggenheim disallows the protest on June 30 for want of evidence and FoMoCo promptly celebrates a fabulous endurance victory. After averaging 230 miles per day during the event, the winning Ford-2 undertakes a leisurely victory tour overland back to New York City.
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