I believe this is Charles Brady King, driving the first gasoline powered car ever to be driven on the streets of Detroit in 1896. This is that car. He attempted to have it finished for the Chicago Times-Herald race, but didn't get it done in time, apparently...
On March 6, 1896 -- 115 years ago Sunday last -- Charles Brady King drove a gasoline-powered car down a Detroit street, a first for the city that would become the birthplace of the U.S. auto industry.
He beat the debut of Henry Ford's Quadricycle by nearly two months.
Around 11 p.m., the automobile, which King designed, rolled out of a machine shop at 112 St. Antoine, then tooled down Jefferson and up Woodward at 5 miles per hour. He chose that late hour so he wouldn't startle the horses that plodded Detroit thoroughfares.
Around that time, King reportedly predicted, "I am convinced that, in time, the horseless carriage will supersede the horse."
His other automotive advancements included designing the Silent Northern car, air brakes and an air-controlled clutch for the Northern Motor Car Co. In 1910, he founded his eponymous car company, whose firsts included left-hand steering, according to the Automotive Hall of Fame.
King -- a Californian who had moved to Detroit after studying mechanical engineering at Cornell University -- became smitten with the idea of horseless carriages after attending the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
