The Great Race 1908 T-Shirt

The 1907 Peking to Paris Race had inspired an even bolder test of these new machines known as automobiles. The course would take racers from New York City to Paris, with a planned 150-mile ship passage from Nome, Alaska, across the Bering Strait to East Cape, Siberia. This was a considerable challenge, to say the least, given the state of automobile technology and the nearly nonexistent road infrastructure at the time. Six cars and 17 men attempted the dangerous journey, but only three of six contestants completed the course. All told, The Great Race of 1908 took 69 days and covered over 13,000 grueling miles of winter roads. In the end, the winner was the American team, driving a 1907 Thomas Flyer.