Author: Jackie L. Frady

Publisher:

Published: 2008-12-01

Total Pages: 136

ISBN-13: 9780980070309

Against All Odds is the story of the 1907 Thomas Flyer, America¿s entry in the 1908 New York to Paris Automobile Race and its incredible journey told in a beautifully illustrated hard cover book. The Thomas Flyer and its hardy team competed in the longest and most difficult race of all time that started from Times Square on February 12, 1908, before a crowd of 250,000.The route the Flyer and its foreign competitors followed had proved dusty, snowy, muddy, and ¿ in some cases ¿ nonexistent. They¿d driven in regions where an automobile had never before been seen.Constantly tinkering with their car to keep it running, making major repairs and changing tires all too often, the Flyer¿s crew endured snowstorms, sandstorms and torrential rain, freezing cold and blistering heat, to make its way across three continents to claim victory ¿ and to prove wrong the many doubters who believed an automobile could not manage such an incredible feat.For those in the cars, the race was a tough, jarring, relentless trip that tested the limits of their endurance, health and sanity during the 22,000 mile odyssey. Like the pioneers who¿d crossed the North American continent a half-century earlier, they had a great sense of adventure. Six cars left Times Square that cold February morning, but this is largely the story of the 1907 Thomas Flyer and George Schuster, who was at the wheel most of the way and drove the winning car into Paris, and history, in the summer of 1908.