great trophy! the antique Astor Cup trophy, presented to the IndyCar Series Champion

https://www.indymotorspeedway.com/astor_cup.html

The Denver Press Club gave a trophy to the driver of a Warren Detroit that beat Barney Oldfield in a race. Now the current owner of that trophy wants to give it to an owner of a Warren Detroit

https://www.facebook.com/groups/119087132480/permalink/10162705261327481

I might be in the minority, but I love these miniature wheel trophies

https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/1g8bw8o/carlos_sainz_almost_perfect_weekend_as_a_team/#lightbox

the famous aviator Roscoe Turner, with the 3 most famous trophies in aviation, that he earned and gathered together for the 1st time, the Thompson, the Harmon, and the Bendix Trophy

If why he's famous escapes you, from the rare times I've posted him (not very often he shows up in pop culture, that's for sure) it's possible you recall him always being photographed with Gilmore airplanes and his adorable pet lion cub

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/222/

I wonder how many news paper companies had cool trophies like this made, and when they stopped doing that... probably the stock market crash of '29

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/119087132480/posts/10159624796777481

I wonder how the rich figured out how to get permission for specific times to use their cars on the railroads. Hmm, well, I suppose they met at parties and talked to the railroad owners, or the golf course.

Glidden made his fortune in the telephone industry before retiring in 1901. He was the millionaire sponsor of the Glidden Reliability Tours from 1905 to 1913.

 His 1902 circumnavigation of the globe with his wife Lucy and a "Motor Engineer" Charles Thomas covered over 48,000 miles, showcasing the endurance of early automobiles. 

His Napier was with flanged wheels to operate on railroads, as those were the only roads across most countries that carried the wealthy in comfort, from city to city, vs small country towns with no luxury hotels

Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. Glidden drove this 24hp Napier automobile during several notable journeys, in 1904 they completed the first crossing of the Canadian Rockies by automobile, arriving in Vancouver, Canada, after a 3,536-mile trip from Boston, Massachusetts. 

This journey was part of the AAA Glidden Tour, a reliability run that aimed to prove the viability of automobiles for long-distance travel. The couple had previously participated in the 1904 St. Louis Tour, where they arrived in Albany, New York.

The couple’s 24hp Napier was a symbol of early automotive exploration and reliability testing, and their journeys helped establish the automobile as a practical tool for travel and commerce.

Mr and Mrs Charles J Glidden in 24hp Napier which they toured for 8 years, beginning in 1901, covering over 46000 miles, here travelling on rails with a railway official.

https://forums.aaca.org/topic/341211-period-images-to-relieve-some-of-the-stress/page/389/

I'd forgotten that I'd posted these two magazine clippings in 2019, http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2019/04/this-is-first-ive-learned-that-glidden.html

Glidden's professional career began at the age of 15. At 20, he was Branch Manager for the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company.

 He recognized early the potential of the phone together and experimented together with Alexander Graham Bell with telephone connections over the telegraph lines. 

Glidden funded the construction of telephone lines in Manchester, New Hampshire and was the first to recognize that the female voice was more suitable for the early telephones than the male. Accordingly, he hired women as telephone operators. 

The telephone exchange, which he had initiated, grew to a syndicate, which, amongst others, covered the U.S. states of Ohio, Minnesota, Arkansas, and Texas. The first long-distance telephone connection (from Lowell, Massachusetts to Boston) was established on his initiative.

In 1901, he sold his company to Bell and hit the road for adventure, with a successful trip to the Arctic Circle. 

He and his wife Lucy, stopped into all the major cities of the world, seen here in London in 1902

In 1902, his world tour took him over 46,528 miles through 39 countries and ultimately around the world twice.

The Glidden Tour trophy originally sported a sterling silver 1901 Napier automobile perched atop the porcelain enameled globe. That priceless little objet d'art vanished long ago.

 

The 1911 "Anderson, South Carolina Perpetual Automobile Touring Trophy" also known as, "The Anderson Trophy" was presented to AAA by the citizens of Anderson, SC to be awarded perpetually to the individual winner of the Glidden Tours, and was first won by the Governor of Georgia, who was chauffeured on the 1911 Glidden Tour in his 1912 Maxwell. The tour ran from New York City to Jacksonville, FL covering 1,460 miles on the then-new National Highway.

Anderson was visited by the 1909 and 1910 Good Roads Tour, (New York Herald and Atlanta Journal) the 1911 Glidden Tour, and the 1912 Army Road Test. 7 decades later, Bosch, BMW, and Michelin USA would take residence there, as well as the ICAR, Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research

For an example of what a luxury tour it was to be a part of, read https://steamboatminnehaha.org/the-glidden-tour-of-1909/ which goes into detail of how the wealthy on tour were treated to all the best each city on the tour had to offer, such as in Minneapolis.

The contestants were treated like celebrities with streetcar rides to Minnehaha Falls and spent the afternoon at Fort Snelling, where military troops met them with a full-out dress parade, including mounted cavalry and artillery men. A reception was held shortly after at the Officer’s Club before the party moved on to an afternoon horse race featuring World Champion pacer Dan Patch.

the Glidden contestants enjoyed Sunday at the Tonka Bay Hotel on Lake Minnetonka. The TCRT excursion boats Plymouth and Puritan were hired for the afternoon to give tours of the lake before the drivers retired to the Lake Minnetonka Automobile Country Club for drinks and dinner.

From 1905 to 1910, Glidden was the first president of the Aero Club of America. From 1908, he began to promote aviation. He praised the lighter than air technology (balloon flight) and was of the opinion that private planes would be similarly ubiquitous as motorcycles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Jasper_Glidden

https://steamboatminnehaha.org/the-glidden-tour-of-1909/

https://robtnar.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/1911-glidden-pathfinder-flanders-20-down-the-dixie-trail-new-york-to-jacksonville-the-studebaker-corporation-e-m-f-companies-factories-detroit-michigan/

For dozens more photos of the Gliddens on their many years of explorations, see https://digitalcollections.detroitpubliclibrary.org/islandora/search?f%5B0%5D=mods_subject_topic_ms%3A%22Glidden%2C%20Charles%20J.%20%28Charles%20Jasper%29%2C%201857-1927%22

Cold Hard Art made the awards for Brittany Force's crew

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1414327093386239&set=pcb.1414333813385567

cool trophy design, Mama Tried, 2023 Best in Show

https://churchofchoppers.blogspot.com/2023/02/2023-mama-tried-show.html

Holy shit, Jeff is still posting at Church of Choppers... not hardly ever, only 3 posts in 2025, 4 in 2024, 18 in 2023... so, you can see he's nearly done. 

He was posting 200 to 300 a month in the hey day of blogs, 2008-2011. For some reason, everything everywhere was great in online car and motorcycle websites then, I'll guess 80 percent quit sometime around 2015

the 1909 Presto-Lite trophy for the winner at the Indy 500, Bob Burnham won, 7 minutes ahead of the 2nd place racer

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/therichardlife/5440078172/in/photostream/
https://www.ripleyauctions.com/auction-lot/the-prest-o-lite-trophy-first-presented-at-the-1_8B74A77ADF

Why aren't more trophy's recycling old pistons? Seems cooler looking than most of the women in robes trophies, or the modern stupid trend of glass panels

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1127056136094878&set=pb.100063715050281.-2207520000

This is cool; a Portland, Oregon neighborhood that has a fun day for everyone that wants to compete at parallel parking

The idea of a Parallel Parking Contest came from Stefanie Lynch, who heard of a similar event in Pittsburgh, got to work creating the perfect stage (and set of rules) for a pretty unique block party and fun competition with her friends Daniel and Casey

A stretch of sidewalk was chosen, 

pool noodles were taped to the stationary vehicles fore and aft of the open spot.

and no automatic parking features were allowed,

the judges decided to tape a piece of cardboard to the backup cameras to make sure contestants didn’t have an edge and relied purely on skill to avoid hitting another car. 

According to the video shared by Good Morning America, more than 50 people attempted to show off their skills

According to the rules, the shorter the vehicle, the fewer points they were awarded, so if you showed up in a Ford F-250 long bed and did a decent job, you probably would’ve taken home the trophy. 

There is an actual trophy, and it being Portland, it’s a golden Subaru.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/neighborhoods-parallel-parking-competition-is-my-kind-of-block-party

the Nitto Tire Diamond Tree championship ring for the Nitto Tire NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing shootout

 

https://dragillustrated.com/race-for-the-rings-nmra-vs-nmca-at-world-wide-technology-raceway

the trophy that Jack Lewis won in 1961- and that got him grounded at home for a week.

Jack Lewis began going to Cotati Dragstrip in the late '50s as a spectator and began running his car in time trials or grudge races at the Half Moon Bay. 

In July 1961, he had my '56 Plymouth dyno-tuned by Andy Brisio at the Champion Speed Shop in South San Francisco. He said the car impressed him with the dyno readings and he recommended entering the class eliminator races C Stock Automatic or C/SA. 

They still had a flagman starter and after being coached on how to stand on the brake and push the throttle to set up the launch Jack survived eliminations, tied in the championship run, and came back to win the rerun for the trophy. When he got home his Dad saw the trophy grounded him for a week!

Tri-County Drag Strip, Cotati, 1961

https://dragstriplist.com/ca

F1 champ Nigel Mansell is auctioning off a lifetime of racing trophys, helmets, and everything else (seriously) here are a couple of the interesting looking trophys

he's even selling his racing carts, pit bike, ball caps for making podiums, jumpsuits, jackets, etc

https://rmsothebys.com/en/home/lots/nm23

interesting Nascar trophy pays tribute to the origins of stock car racing

https://twitter.com/NWBSpeedway/status/1656721098040389638/photo/1

https://outsider.com/sports/nascar/north-wilkesboro-unveils-nascar-all-star-race-trophy-paying-homage-to-stock-car-racings-moonshining-past/

a couple of cool unusual trophys coming to auction

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28770/lot/43/an-unusual-motoring-trophy-by-derby-silver-co/

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28770/lot/54/the-rhode-island-automobile-club-hill-climb-trophy-1907/

https://www.bonhams.com/auction/28770/lot/27/a-large-pewter-motoring-trophy-circa-1908/

The B.F. Goodrich Co. Annual Motorcycle Race trophy of 1911, 5 mile race

 

https://www.proxibid.com/The-B-F-Goodrich-Co-Annual-Motorcycle-Race-5-Miles-1911/lotInformation/74874491

the 1924 Mitchell Trophy Race, sponsored by Brigadier General Billy Mitchell in honor of his brother, John L. Mitchell, who was killed during World War I was won by Lt Bettis

Lt. James H. Doolittle (left) and Lt. Cyrus Bettis 

Lieutenant Cyrus Bettis, Air Service, United States Army, set a Fédération Aéronautique Internationale World Record for Speed Over 100 kilometers (62.14 miles), flying a Curtiss R3C-1 racing plane, #43. His average speed was 249.34 miles per hour

 Lieutenant Bettis was awarded the 1925 Pulitzer Trophy. Bettis also won the Mackay Trophy for 1925.

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/12-october-1925/

skip to the 9:50 mark for video of Lt Bettis, and 13:17 for Lt Doolittle

The Pulitzer Trophy Race was Event No. 5 in the National Air Races, held near Mount Clemens, Michigan, October 1922

The races were sponsored, with the blessings of the Army and Navy, by Ralph Pulitzer, well-known American journalist.

Events were open to all comers and to all nations and therefore were not restricted to service-sponsored entries. Nevertheless, one of the few requirements imposed limited landing speeds to not more than 75 m.p.h.

 This virtually ruled out foreign contenders inasmuch as foreign racing plane designers for the most part did not follow the same safety concepts as American designers. Few of their craft had landing speeds that low. 

Although the races were not restricted to service-sponsored craft, they quickly became virtually an Army-Navy affair. Another cause of this situation was the fact that private enterprise could not afford the tremendous expense incidental to developing experimental racing designs.

The Navy decided to have airplanes built specifically for these races

With the gradual development of laboratory facilities for research, testing, and development, and with a growing accumulation of scientific data, the advantages realized from the design, construction, and flying of service racing airplanes did not justify the expense, risks, and uncertainties involved. Consequently the Government refused to finance further the development of special racing types. So ended one of the more colorful chapters in the history of the development of American aviation.

Lieutenant Russell Maughan, Air Service, United States Army, flying a Curtiss R-6 set Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Records for Speed during the race 205.31 miles per hour

Lt Maughan had been a fighter pilot during World War I. He shot down four enemy airplanes with his Spad S.XIII C.I, and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for bravery in action. He flew in several air races and set records. 

He went on to fly the Dawn-to-Dusk transcontinental flight in a Curtiss PW-8, 23 June 1924. 

In World War II he commanded the 51st Troop Carrier Wing during Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa.

The Pulitzer was awarded from 1920-1925 https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-pulitzer-air-races

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/14-october-1922/

https://www.history.navy.mil/our-collections/photography/numerical-list-of-images/nhhc-series/nh-series/NH-43000/NH-43412.html

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1959/september/pulitzer-races-1920-1925