the 1909 New York to Seattle racing Model Ts, Bert Scott and C.J. Smith, covering 4,100 miles in 22 days and 55 minutes averaging 7.75 mph.

https://www.facebook.com/RacinginAmerica?fref=photo

The contest, sponsored by the millionaire Robert Guggenheim, was part of a publicity campaign for, the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition held in Seattle that year.

President Taft pressed a golden telegraph key in Washington which both opened the AYP Exposition in Seattle and signaled Mayor McClellan of New York City to fire a gold revolver.

Initially as many as 35 autos were going to enter the race, but when the race started in New York City on June 1, 1909, at 3:00 p.m., the exact moment that President Taft officially opened the A-Y-P, only six vehicles crossed the start line. They were an Itala, Shawmut, Acme, Stearns, and two Model T Fords.

While crossing Kansas and Wyoming, the contestants had to battle rain and mud, but Snoqualmie Pass was probably the most difficult part of the transcontinental route. The first automobiles had crossed the pass just four years before. Even after King, Kittitas, and Yakima counties had improved the Snoqualmie Pass road for the event, the route over the pass was little more than a wagon road. On the west side of the Cascades in King County, a portion of the road included following the Snoqualmie River bed.

At Prosser, Washington, an observer, not used to cars, struck a match on the side of the Ford's gas tank and the car caught fire.

First Place and winner of the cash prize of $2,000 and the Guggenheim Trophy worth $3,500 was the Shawmut, which arrived on June 23. The driver and mechanic were Bert Scott and James Smith.

Second Place was the Model T that spent seven hours at Snoqualmie Pass, which arrived on June 23.

Third Place went to the Acme that arrived about June 30.

The other Model T finished before the Shawmut on June 23, but was disqualified because the axle was changed during the race.

The Itala arrived in Seattle on a freight car.

The Stearns never made it past New York state.

The four cars that made it over Snoqualmie Pass were among 105 autos that made it over the pass in 1909. For several years, the pass was one of the great challenges of transcontinental automobile races.

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?displaypage=output.cfm&file_id=2151

Arriving at the finish line in Seattle at the Drumheller Fountain, which was the center of the AYP Exhibition of 1909 and now the center of the University of Washington where the fountain still exists, the Ford was declared the winner with a jubilant Henry Ford (caught for posterity by the brilliance of Mr. Kodak) proudly standing by.

http://myautoworld.com/ford/history/ford-t/ford-t-2/ford-t-2.html
http://oceantoocean.ning.com/

found on https://www.facebook.com/groups/Fordmodelt/