Harry Grant (racing driver)

Harry Grant
Grant, circa 1910
BornHarold Fletcher Grant
(1877-07-10)July 10, 1877
DiedOctober 7, 1915(1915-10-07) (aged 38)
Championship titles
Major victories
Vanderbilt Cup (1909, 1910)
Champ Car career
23 races run over 6 years
First race1909 Lowell Trophy (Merrimack Valley)
Last race1915 Providence 100
(Narragansett Park)
First win1909 Vanderbilt Cup (Long Island)
Last win1910 Vanderbilt Cup (Long Island)
Wins Podiums Poles
2 4 0

Harold Fletcher Grant (July 10, 1877 – October 7, 1915) was an American racing driver. He was the first two-time victor of the Vanderbilt Cup, winning in 1909 and 1910.

Biography

Grant was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 10, 1877. His father was a mining engineer who was killed in a mining accident in Colorado.[1]

Driving an American Locomotive Company automobile, Grant won the Vanderbilt Cup on Long Island Motor Parkway in 1909 and 1910.[2] He then competed in the Indianapolis 500 four times between 1911 and 1915. He had his best showing in 1914, finishing in seventh place.[1]

On the second lap of practice for the Astor Cup at Sheepshead Bay Speedway on September 28, 1915, his car caught fire in the banked turns of the speedway. With his car and himself on fire, he went over 90 miles per hour (140 km/h) until getting out of the turn, traveling 450 feet (140 m) before coming to a stop. Grant suffered heavy burns and taken by another car to Coney Island Hospital. He had shown signs of recovering but he died of his burns at Coney Island Hospital on October 7, 1915.[3]

Motorsports career results

Indianapolis 500 results

References

  1. ^ a b "Harry Grant". Vanderbilt Cup. Retrieved 2012-10-06. Harry Grant was born in 1877 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. When Harry was very young, his father, a mining engineer, was killed in a mining accident in Colorado. As a result, Harry and his brother William were separated and raised by different families. ...
  2. ^ "AAA Champ Car Race Results at Long Island Motor Parkway". www.racing-reference.info. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  3. ^ "Grant, Astor Cup Race Driver, Dies of Burns". The Sun. New York, New York. October 8, 1915. p. 9. Retrieved January 2, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.