in
History
—
The Great Race of 1908: How an American Car Won the 'Around the World' Race by Finishing Second
In 1908, six cars embarked on an insane 22,000-mile race from New York to Paris. Battling blizzards and roadless terrain, the American Thomas Flyer won the 169-day ordeal, but only after the German team that finished first was penalized for taking a shortcut.
The Dawn of an Impossible Idea
Imagine the world in 1908. The automobile was a fragile, unreliable novelty, more a rich man's toy than a practical mode of transport. Roads, where they existed at all, were unpaved tracks of dirt and mud. In this era, two newspapers, The New York Times and Paris's Le Matin, announced a challenge so audacious it bordered on insanity: a car race around the world, from New York to Paris.
On a frigid February 12th, a crowd of 250,000 gathered in Times Square to watch the start of "The Great Race." Six cars representing four nations—an American Thomas Flyer, a German Protos, an Italian Züst, and three French entries (De Dion-Bouton, Motobloc, and Sizaire-Naudin)—set off on a proposed 22,000-mile journey that would test the very limits of man and machine.
A Brutal War of Attrition
The race was less a competition against each other and more a battle against the planet itself. The plan was to drive across the United States in the dead of winter, cross the frozen Bering Strait into Siberia, and then traverse Asia and Europe to the finish line in Paris. Reality hit hard and fast. One French car broke down before it even left New York state. The remaining teams faced relentless blizzards, axle-deep mud that was once a road, and vast, unmapped wilderness with no fuel, no spare parts, and no help for hundreds of miles.
By the time the race reached San Francisco, only three teams remained: the American Thomas Flyer, the German Protos, and the Italian Züst. The American continent had claimed half the competition.
Ice, Water, and a Change of Plans
The original route hinged on a critical, and ultimately flawed, assumption: that the teams could drive across the frozen Bering Strait from Alaska to Russia. Upon reaching Seattle, the racers learned the Alaskan winter had been unseasonably warm, and the ice was impassable. The grand arctic crossing was off. Organizers rerouted the race; the cars were to be loaded onto a steamer in Seattle and shipped to Vladivostok, Russia, to begin the grueling trek across Siberia.
The American team, led by driver George Schuster, was the only one to even attempt the Alaskan leg. This dedication to the original route would prove decisive, though they wouldn't know it for months.
A Finish Line with a Twist
After enduring the desolate, roadless expanse of Siberia and the more civilized roads of Europe, the German Protos roared into Paris on July 26th, 1908. Lieutenant Hans Koeppen and his crew were greeted as heroes, the apparent victors of the world's greatest endurance test. Four days later, on July 30th, the battered American Thomas Flyer chugged into the city, seemingly the runner-up.
But the race wasn't over. The officials still had to calculate penalties. The German team, in a desperate bid to reach the coast on time, had loaded their Protos onto a train to bypass a difficult section of the American West. This was a clear violation of the rules, and it earned them a hefty 15-day penalty. In contrast, the American Thomas Flyer was awarded a 15-day bonus for their attempt to tackle the original Alaskan route. When the final tallies were made, the four-day lead of the Protos was erased by a 30-day net advantage for the Americans. The Thomas Flyer was declared the official winner by a margin of 26 days.
The Legacy of the Great Race
The 1908 New York to Paris race was more than just a contest; it was a landmark event that proved the automobile was not just a fad. It was a rugged, capable machine that could conquer the world's harshest environments. The sole American driver to finish the entire route, George Schuster, perfectly captured its significance:
I believe this race will do more to demonstrate the practicability of the motorcar than any other single event.
Though forgotten by many today, this incredible 169-day journey through mud, snow, and uncertainty remains one of the greatest adventures in automotive history, a testament to the pioneers who proved that the world could, in fact, be navigated on four wheels.