Harry S. Harkness

HARRY S. HARKNESS
AUTO RACING

H.S. Harkness in His Mercedes-Simplex, "Winning Five-Miles Event in 6:1 3-5, Grosse Pointe Track, Detroit."
Detroit Publishing Company, copyright 1902. Touring Turn-of-the-Century America:
Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880-1920,
American Memory collections, Library of Congress.

1904 Mt Washington
"Climb to the Clouds"
trophy, won by
Harry S. Harkness
Gift of Henry Austin Clark, Jr.
Photo by Michael R McGuire
Contributed by Don Dumont, 9-22-10

ONLINE RESOURCES If you search for "Harry S. Harkness" +"auto racing" using the Google search engine, (9-19-10), you will find about 117 links.

Harry Harkness You will find a brief review of his activities in auto racing on this page of the Wikipedia website. You can access the page by clicking on the title above.

Harry Harkness (left) and Everard Thompson
Photo courtesy of Bill Spink Collins, 4-8-04

SHEEPSHEAD BAY SPEEDWAY This page tells the very interesting story of the Sheepshead Bay Speedway in Brooklyn, New York, 1915-1919. In 1916, Harry was listed among the Officers as the President and Everard Thompson as Vice-President and General Manager. You can access the page by clicking on the title above.
The photograph above was provided by Bill Spink Collins, whose grandfather, Al Spink, Jr., collected them when he was an official at the speedway. Bill is looking for information about Al Spink Jr., and about Al Spink Sr., Bill's great-grandfather. Bill can be contacted at:
uncabill@gwi.net

Henry Ford's 999
1903: Henry Ford never raced again after his 1901 victory, but he sometimes drove the race cars. He drove 999 in a 1903 demonstration run with Harry Harkness at the Grosse Pointe track.
Photo by Michael R McGuire, 9-24-10

Henry Ford Driving 999 Race Car
Against Harkness Race Car
at GrossePointe Racetrack
This page on the Henry Ford website displays a very nice photo of the event. You will have to manipulate the thumbnail image to enlarge it so it can be appreciated. You can see Harry, at the right, handing the trophy to Louis.

Louis Chevrolet wins Harkness Trophy Sheepshead Bay, New York. Long front angle pan shot of the crowded grandstand. Long ground angle shot of the cars starting, coming to and passing camera. Ground angle shot of the cars coming to and passing camera, ground angle shot of the cars whizzing by the camera, long shot of the cars on the far side of track. Long angle shot of the cars passing the grandstand. Semi close shot of Louis Chevrolet seated in car and semi long shot being presented by Harry Harkness with flowers and Harkness trophy. Semi close shot of Harkness Trophy.

For a cleaned up silent version, click on:
Louis Chevrolet wins Harkness Trophy

Don Dumont found these links on YouTube.

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