Grand Prix

AUTO RACING

In 1908, when George Schuster was working for the E. R. Thomas Motor Co. of Buffalo, his boss sent him on a trip to Paris. There was one catch. George had to go by car, via California and Siberia, as a contestant in the longest auto race ever run.

Co-sponsored by the New York Times, the race started normally enough. "I cranked and the engine started," recalled George last week with a touch of awe. "We sped down Broadway to Times Square and into the biggest crowd of people I ever saw." Exactly 41 days, eight hours and 15 minutes later, Schuster's 60-h.p. Thomas Flyer arrived in San Francisco, thus ending the easiest part of the trip. Five foreign cars--from a French De Dion to an Italian Zust--trailed far behind. Boarding a freighter, Schuster headed to Japan, crossed to Vladivostok, then set out on the long trek across Siberia. Where there were no roads, Schuster made do with railroad tracks. When he ran out of oil, he lubricated the engine with Vaseline, a substance that lesser men of the era used on their hair, and he managed to find a bed to sleep in only five times in 72 days. Finally, on July 30, he chugged into Paris--the winner by almost four weeks. His circumnavigation cost more than five months and $8,600--every penny, yen, ruble, mark and franc of which Schuster carefully computed in his stained, penciled notebook.

For his victory, Schuster was supposed to receive an American flag and $1,000--which, had he later invested it prudently (perhaps in automobile stock), could have generated thousands more today. He got only the flag, and when Hollywood in 1965 filmed its version of The Great Race, he suffered the additional indignity of seeing Tony Curtis play the hero. Last week the New York Times announced that it would at long last present Schuster with his grand prix of $1,000. Now 95, totally blind, Schuster has no regrets. "In my lifetime," he says, "I have seen the automobile change from a rich man's plaything into everybody's servant, and remake America. I often like to think that the race back in 1908 was at least a little responsible."

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