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Author Topic: SOLVED! Name that race! - Ab Jenkins vs. Train, Utah Salt Flats  (Read 2404 times)

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Offline Stephen M

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SOLVED! Name that race! - Ab Jenkins vs. Train, Utah Salt Flats
« on: October 27, 2007, 03:31:57 PM »
Time to play name that race! Identify the entrants and the nature of the contest.

« Last Edit: January 08, 2021, 04:51:45 AM by Oguerrerob »
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Offline Otto Puzzell

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2007, 03:01:07 AM »
Did this race happen outside of the US?
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Offline Stephen M

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2007, 10:35:29 AM »
Quote from: KarnUtz on October 28, 2007, 03:01:07 AM
Did this race happen outside of the US?

The race was entirely within the confines of the United States.
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Offline Stephen M

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #3 on: October 29, 2007, 08:39:02 PM »
The driver of the car in the photo above held numerous records in his lifetime.
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Offline Tifosi

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #4 on: October 29, 2007, 11:26:12 PM »
Quote from: Stephen M on October 29, 2007, 08:39:02 PM
The driver of the car in the photo above held numerous records in his lifetime.

Cannonball Baker?



Dan
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Offline Stephen M

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #5 on: October 29, 2007, 11:30:42 PM »
Not Baker. Good guess, though.
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Offline Stephen M

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #6 on: October 31, 2007, 08:47:30 AM »
All race participants are shown in the photo above.
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Offline Stephen M

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #7 on: November 01, 2007, 02:09:44 PM »
Quote from: Stephen M on October 31, 2007, 08:47:30 AM
All race participants are shown in the photo above.

AND....all vehicles shown in the photo above were race participants......
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Offline Motorace

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #8 on: November 01, 2007, 03:35:08 PM »
It ain't the Blue train Bentley, so how's about Barney Oldfield?
« Last Edit: November 01, 2007, 03:40:01 PM by Motorace »
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Offline Stephen M

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #9 on: November 01, 2007, 08:23:43 PM »
Not Oldfield.
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Offline Stephen M

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #10 on: November 02, 2007, 10:38:09 AM »
Hmmm....I hadn't seen the pic before, but I have no idea how obscure this one is. So I'm just going to keep the hints coming every day or two.

Speaking of which, during the race a passenger in the car was tasked with throwing a bag of flour on the road at every railroad crossing. The routes weren't exactly parallel, so this marker let riders in the train would know if they were ahead or not.
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Offline Stephen M

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #11 on: November 04, 2007, 05:29:07 PM »
Among numerous automotive records, the driver of the car also had some success in politics.

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Offline Stephen M

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #12 on: November 06, 2007, 02:02:09 PM »
The car pictured is a Studebaker, but the driver made most of his hay with a Duesenberg.
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Offline @re

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #13 on: November 06, 2007, 02:34:27 PM »
Could it be that the contest captured in the image is David Abbott 'Ab' Jenkins' attempt to race a train from New York to San Francisco in 1926? Jenkins and his relief driver, Ray L. Peck, made the trip in 86 hours 20 minutes - the train took 100 hours. Jenkins went on to set several 24-hour average speed records (with the Duesenberg 'Mormon Meteor'), of which the last one lasted from 1940 to 1990. Whether he then was satisfied I don't know... but he entered politics and became the mayor of Salt Lake City :)
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Offline Stephen M

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #14 on: November 06, 2007, 02:46:44 PM »
Quote from: arejh on November 06, 2007, 02:34:27 PM
Could it be that the contest captured in the image is David Abbott 'Ab' Jenkins' attempt to race a train from New York to San Francisco in 1926? Jenkins and his relief driver, Ray L. Peck, made the trip in 86 hours 20 minutes - the train took 100 hours. Jenkins went on to set several 24-hour average speed records (with the Duesenberg 'Mormon Meteor'), of which the last one lasted from 1940 to 1990. Whether he then was satisfied I don't know... but he entered politics and became the mayor of Salt Lake City :)

You're 90% of the way there...this is indeed Ab Jenkins, well done! But this photo was of a race a good bit shorter than NY-SanFran.

-Stephen M
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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #15 on: November 06, 2007, 03:00:06 PM »
Let me try another one then - maybe the very race that introduced him to Bonneville in the first place, when a friend of his asked him to race his Studebaker against a train to promote the new highway through the salt flats? Apparently, Jenkins accepted the challenge - and beat the train, some sources say by five minutes, others by ten.
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Offline Stephen M

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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #16 on: November 06, 2007, 03:29:54 PM »
You've got it. Well done!
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Re: Name that race!
« Reply #17 on: November 06, 2007, 03:36:03 PM »
That is some "high"way though...
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Offline Otto Puzzell

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Re: SOLVED! Name that race! - Ab Jenkins vs. Train, Utah Salt Flats
« Reply #18 on: November 07, 2007, 05:45:07 AM »
How the heck did the train passengers see the flour against the white salt?
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Offline Allan L

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Re: SOLVED! Name that race! - Ab Jenkins vs. Train, Utah Salt Flats
« Reply #19 on: November 07, 2007, 08:22:20 AM »
Quote from: KarnUtz on November 07, 2007, 05:45:07 AM
How the heck did the train passengers see the flour against the white salt?
Wholemeal flour, perhaps!
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Offline Stephen M

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Re: SOLVED! Name that race! - Ab Jenkins vs. Train, Utah Salt Flats
« Reply #20 on: November 07, 2007, 08:59:54 AM »
Good question. I was assuming the road surface at the crossing was paved with something significantly darker than the salt itself, but it doesn't look too dark in the photo.

Wholemeal flour as Allan suggested would be another explanation.
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