THE DUST
Robertson Blew a Tire on the Last Lap and Won Anyway
A 23-year-old Long Island driver and his riding mechanic changed their last spare on the final lap and won the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup in Old 16.
Updated October 24, 2026
October 24, 1908. The grandstand on Long Island is packed, and the crowd wants one thing. Three Vanderbilt Cups have been run since 1904, and a European car won all three.
George Robertson is 23 and grew up in Garden City, close enough to call this home. His car is a Locomobile built in Bridgeport, the same machine the factory ran in 1906, now wearing No. 16.
The course is new too. After the crowds swarmed the roads in 1906, the race was dropped for a year. Now part of the lap runs on the fresh concrete of the Long Island Motor Parkway. Each lap covers 23.46 miles, eleven laps in all.
Riding beside Robertson is mechanic Glenn Ethridge. He works an air pump to keep the gas tank pressurized and runs plungers that feed oil to an engine of about 990 cubic inches. This time the car carries quick-change demountable rims.
They need them. On the final lap a tire goes flat. Robertson and Ethridge scramble, bolt on their last spare, and get back up to speed.
No. 16 takes the flag with a time of 4 hours and 48 seconds. Herb Lytle's Isotta is second, 1 minute and 48 seconds back. An American driver in an American car has finally won the Cup.
The car got a nickname after that. Old 16.
What's the closest you ever cut it on your last spare?
True races. Still kicking.