On the morning of Lincoln's birthday, February 12, 1908, six cars driven by men from four different countries took the line in Times Square. Cheered by a crowd of 250,000 and undaunted by the swirling snow, these men were about to do something no one had ever done: race from New York to Paris across three continents and six countries, 21,000+ miles, through Arctic cold and desert heat, over 10,000 ft. mountain ranges and seas of mud. At the time, cars had only been commercially available for fifteen years. Most people in the world hadn't seen one. There were no gas stations, garages, replacement parts, not to mention plentiful bridges and expanses of paved road.
The seventeen men who took the line that day were a peculiar mix: a French count, an aristocratic German officer, a Norwegian outdoorsman and adventurer, a pair of Italian sophisticates, and a cranky mechanic from Buffalo named George Schuster. According to legend, the U.S. team entered the race at the last minute and at the insistence of Teddy Roosevelt who "hated the prospect of European automobiles crossing the country unchallenged by Americans."
Over the course of the race, Schuster distinguished himself as a fierce competitor and when the U.S. team (one of only two teams to finish the race) drove into Paris on July 30, 1908, it was Schuster and the made-in-Buffalo Thomas Flyer that got them there.
The story of the race has been captured in a recently published book written by award-winning writer and historian Julie M. Fenster. About Race of the Century: The Heroic True Story of the 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race, Kirkus Reviews writes:
Fenster is a superb storyteller, taking the factual information of the race and investing it with wit and brio. A race like this, almost otherworldly in its setting, has much potential, and Fenster taps into every mile of it.
Ms. Fenster will give a short talk on her book and the research she did at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library on June 7 that 12:00 pm in the library's West Room. The event is free and open to the public.
If you can't make that appearance, Ms. Fenster will also give a reading on Monday, June 6th at 7pm in WBFO's Theatre located in Allen Hall on the University at Buffalo South Campus. Her reading will be broadcast live on WBFO 88.7-FM and will be presented as part of the station's Meet the Author series.