The 1904 Record Run
from Chicago to New York
made by the
Columbia Car
In the photo above, Lawrence Duffie is the driver and Bert
Holcomb is the front-seat passenger.
Note: This website was designed and
maintained by Lawrence Duffie's grandson, Bruce Duffie.
Comments and/or questions about this presentation can be addressed to
duffie@voyager.net.
Further along will be more recognition
of Lawrence in conjunction with the Columbia Cars.
Bert Holcomb, for whom Lawrence's son
Burton was named, is also featured several times
in photos and articles. Bruce
Duffie is Burton's son.
Of the others who participated in both the 1903 and 1904 record runs,
Eddie Bald, a champion cyclist who
rode and promoted Columbia bicycles, was later named
by the AAA as the National Driving
Champion for 1907. This was awarded posthumously
in 1951 (when the list was
revised) because even though some races were designated as
"Championship Events," no points were awarded and no year-long
National Champion
was recognized. More
photos of Bald are shown on this page and on later pages.
Ray W. Harroun was similarly
designated National Champion for
the year 1910
in 1927 when points were assigned. He was the winner of many
races, including
the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911! To see more about Harroun, click HERE.
In the photo above, Duffie
is once again the driver with Holcomb beside him.
In the photo above, Duffie is still driving and the front-seat
passenger is Eddie Bald.
In the Dunlop ad below, Duffie and Bald have switched
places.
The photo above was part of a promotional brochure put out by
Dunlop Tires.
To see that brochure, which gives specifications and instructions,
click HERE.
The ad below appeared in Horseless Age Magazine,
October 19, 1904.
Holcomb is the driver, and Duffie is again the front-seat
passenger.
Another item about the Dunlop tires
appears with the articles below
This
re-take of the record by the Columbia car was
challenged several times, but stood for almost two years,
and wasn't broken until early September, 1906!
To read about that event, click HERE.
Holcomb
and Duffie had established the original record the previous
year.
The pages which follow show photos and articles of that adventure, plus
the Gold Medal won in an endurance test immediately thereafter.
Following all that are many more pages showing the Columbia cars
from the very first experiments through the final production in 1913.
