Existing comment:
George Schuster, 1873-1972
Born Buffalo, New York
In 1908, in an epic test of men and machines, six international teams attempted to drive their automobiles 13,341 miles, in a course that began at Times Square, crossed the United States, trekked through Siberia, and ultimately finished in Paris. One by one the groups dropped out, but the United States team, led by George Schuster in a sixty-horsepower Thomas Flyer, arrived in Paris 170 days after leaving New York City. Schuster is pictured here at the wheel, with his principal mechanic George Miller in the passenger seat. In completing the challenging course, "America's Champion" ventured through the muck of a Siberian summer with the help of forty Russian soldiers, outfoxing the other nations' drivers, who tried to buy up all available gasoline. This historic race helped propel the American automobile into prominence, and Schuster and Miller were the toast of the nation.
Unidentified artist, c 1910 |