1936 Vanderbilt Cup


The 1936 Vanderbilt Cup was a Grand Prix that was held on 12 October 1936 at Roosevelt Raceway near Westbury, Long Island, New York City, USA. It was the fourth and last race of the 1936 AAA Championship Car season, not counting the non-championship events. The race, contested over 75 laps of 6.39 km, was won by Tazio Nuvolari driving a
Alfa Romeo 12C-36 after starting from eighth position.

Background

For the history of the Vanderbilt Cup: see Vanderbilt Cup
This was the first time that the Vanderbilt Cup was held since 1916. George Washington Vanderbilt III, the nephew of the founder of the Vanderbilt Cup, William Kissam Vanderbilt II, sponsored a 300-mile race in 1936 at Roosevelt Raceway. Just like in the original races, European drivers were enticed by the substantial prize money - Scuderia Ferrari entered three Alfa Romeo racers. However, because of little American competition and an unexciting course layout, the race was organised for only two years. Both races were won by Europeans. After 1937, the Vanderbilt Cup would not be raced until 1960.
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Entries

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Grid positions

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Race results

Twelve of the forty-five drivers that started the race were Europeans driving an English ERA or an Italian Alfa Romeo, Bugatti or Maserati. The rest of the field was made up of Americans in dirt track cars with two-speed gearboxes. Although the course contained only one long straight, and the European drivers had to get used to the loose dirt track surface, the Americans were no contest for the Grand Prix cars. For example, even with Nuvolari's V12 Alfa Romeo running on eleven cylinders, he won by eight minutes on Wimille. The best American driver was Cummings finishing seventh almost twenty-five minutes behind the winner.
Pos.DriverCar ConstructorTime
1NuvolariAlfa Romeo4:32:44.0
2WimilleBugatti4:40:55.9
3BrivioAlfa Romeo4:45:44.4
4SommerAlfa Romeo4:46:59.51
5FairfieldERA4:56:48.5
6McEvoyMaserati4:57:24.8
7CummingsMiller4:57:43.11
8RoseMiller4:57:47.2
9ÉtancelinMaserati4:59:43.11
10LitzMiller5:01:05.82
11TaborDuesenberg5:04:06.6
12AndresStevens5:05:54.9
13HoweERA5:06:11.75
14EvansBugatti5:07:42.5
15LewisERA5:08:17.27
16DeckerDuesenburg5:08:18.63
17PutnamStudebaker+1 lap
18RaysonMaserati+1 lap
19LakeAmbler+2 laps
20BanksMiller+3 laps
21GardnerMiller+3 laps
22ZarkaAmbler+4 laps
23SwansonMiller+4 laps
24GulottaStevens+6 laps
25ShaferMiller+6 laps
26MillerRigling+10 laps
27BriskoMiller+10 laps
28BalusDuesenberg+10 laps
29ChamberlainDuesenberg+10 laps
30Tomei+10 laps
31ConnorWeil+3 laps
32WinnMiller+11 laps
33Snowberger+14 laps
34Thorne+26 laps
35StappShaw+27 laps
36HornWetteroth+30 laps
37SnyderStevens+35 laps
38CantlonMiller+40 laps
39Davis+45 laps
40WillmanStevens+54 laps
41FarinaAlfa Romeo+58 laps
42"Raph"Maserati+66 laps
43PhillipsBugatti+67 laps
44Marion+72 laps
45ShawShaw+73 laps

Sources: see Entries