Strap yourself in while we take you on a blast from the past. Our journey takes us to the early 1900's. During this time the country was designing and developing all kinds of machines. One of those machines was the automobile. Many of the automobiles inventions came from backyards and small garages where everyone was trying to beat the other guy. Competition at it's best. Just down the road from where RaceVision was founded was the factory that built the Locomobile. It was the car that changed American racing forever.

The Locomobile company, was started in Bridgeport, Connecticut 50 miles northeast of New York city where a deep water port and manufacturing base was already flourishing. The name Locomobile was used because the vehicle was built like a locomotive. They had a reputation as a finely detailed automobile with elegance and the durability of a locomotive. The original cars were modeled after the Stanley Steamers, created by the Stanley brothers in Watertown, Massachusetts. There were many problems with the steam design because the water tanks had to be refilled every 20 miles and the boilers blew up or had to be replaced often. You also had to wait for the boiler to get hot before you could go anywhere. The 1899 Locomobile sold for $600, a lot of money in those days and its advertisements boasted, it was noiseless and odorless.

In 1899 the Stanley brothers sold all the assets of their company including the patents to partners A.L. Barber and J.B. Walker. Walker was the editor of the Cosmopolitan Magazine and Barber was America's asphalt king. They built 100 vehicles under the Stanley logo before changing the name to the Locomobile. Later on the owners disagreed and parted their separate ways. Barber retained the Locomobile name and Walker went on to build steam cars. The Stanley's regretted selling their patents when the Locomobile company took them to court and they were forced to make changes to their original design.

In January 1902 Andrew Lawrence Riker designed and build Locomobile's first gasoline car. When Riker was14 year olds he built his first electric motor vehicle in the basement of his family's house in New York. In 1889 he founded the Riker Electric Vehicle Company and it became one of the country's largest manufacturers of electric cars and trucks.

Its engine block and gear case were of manganese bronze and it had a heat-treated steel frame that made for a stiff race car. Every motor was tested to see how much horsepower it had before it was mounted in the frame and production was limited to only "Four Cars a Day," That became the company's new motto.

Then in 1905 they entered their car into the Vanderbilt Cup races on Long Island NY. It was a race through the streets of Mineola and Jericho where cars from every automobile building country in the world would attend. They will now compete head to head with their European counterparts. Celebrities from all over the world would attend these races including Vanderbuilt. There was even a Broadway show starring the famous race driver Barney Oldfield portraying a poor mechanic who saves the day. The hype was getting greater every year and there were a total of 20 cars entered in the race this year. They would race for a grueling 250 miles on bumpy dirt roads and portions of the Long Island Parkway. When the checkered flag fell a Darracq and a Panhard held the first two places and the Locomobile came in third.

This was the first time in racing history that an American machine had finished in the top 3 in an international race. The $40,000 it cost to build and race the sixteen-liter car now seemed justified. The car topped 110 mph and handled like a dream.

America was now in a frenzy over racing. A Broadway musical called The Vanderbilt Cup was made. Newspapers were writing stories and the whole country was excited. But this was only a preview of what was to come.

Joe Tracy and his mechanic had problems with pit stops in previous races due to the non removable tire rims and Al Poole was required to change eleven tires in that race, with the few tools they had. In 1906 they modified the rims to quick change removable rims and put in a new transmission. Riker also decided to use one of each of the tire manufacturers on each car he entered, Diamond on one and Michelin's on the other.

With admission 25 cents people came from all over the world to watch the races. They lined the streets along the set course watching cars speed by at 100 miles per hour. The car itself was basically was a stock Locomobile stripped for racing but it was finely tuned to get the most power. George Robertson a New Yorker at the age of 23 was selected as the driver of the car fitted with Michelin tires in the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup race. He set the fastest lap for the race and won it in record time leading the last 11 laps of the event. An Isotta took second place and the second Locomobile was third.

The Americans have won their first race and the whole country was celebrating.

The Locomobile company was always a small company and after World War I they were purchased by Mercer. The 1922 Locomobile went for $7,600 - $11,000 each. Both companies became victims of the 1922 stock market crash.

There is a Locomobile on display at the Smithsonian Institution.