George Robertson

0/0/1884 - 3/7/1955

Record updated 03-Jul-06

George Robertson was born in 1884 and was one of America’s greatest pre-WW1 racing drivers. His father ran one of New York's first big garage and George grew upsurrounded by Mors, Panhards and other makes.

He raced a Christie, a Hotchkiss and a Simplex as well as a Locomobile with which he won the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup. This victory was the first in the Cup by an American driver in an American car. This car was the legendary "Old No. 16".

In 1910 he was the captain of the Benz team but was injured while showing a newspaper reporter the course and was forced to retire from driving. In 1921 he served as Dusenberg's team manager in their victorious challenge of the French Grand Prix. The team featured Americans Jimmy Murphy and Joe Boyer with Europeans Andre Dubonnet and Albert Guyot.

He later was the vice president and general manager of Roosevelt Raceway, host to the George Vanderbilt Cup.

In 1951 racing historian Russ Catlin officially revised AAA records with championship results based on all AAA races from 1902-1915 and 1916-1919. This had the effect of retroactively creating seven newly credited champions and changing the 1909 champion from Bert Dingley to George Robertson with his Simplex.