Pope-Toledo photo Courtesy of the National Automotive History Collection, Detroit Public Library
(see complete photo credit in "Sources" section, below).
Caruso photo from www.carusomidgetracing.com/racing-photos.html
As we've seen here recently, early 1900s life was not always slow for the people of dusty Hicksville. (There were racing cyclists), and there were (racing sleigh men, too.) But one October, people in the village saw road vehicles go by at speeds they never expected to witness. The world's most famous drivers were racing motorcars through town, in the first international automobile race held in America.
This is the first part of an Ancient Hixtory article devoted to Hicksville's role in the formative years of American automobile racing. What follows below is the story of privileged and wealthy men. They garnered fame by owning and driving huge automobiles, which raced against each other in exotic places like Vienna, Paris, Madrid, Bordeaux - and Hicksville.
The next part of this article, to appear in April's Ancient Hixtory, will look at different men. Resourceful, ingenious, and dedicated, they worked to create a world of racing for powerful but small cars. Among them we will find Mike Caruso, a man who put down roots in Hicksville and went on to achieve remarkable things.
