George Schuster

Who was George Schuster?

George N. Schuster was the driver of the American built Thomas Flyer and winner of the 1908 New York to Paris Race.

The "Great Race" was an international competition among teams representing Germany, Italy, France and the United States. Schuster's victory for the American entry still stands nearly a century later. Schuster was also the first person to drive across the United States during the winter in an automobile.

The 22,000 mile course started February 12, 1908 in Times Square with a crowd of 250,000 watching the start of what would become a 169 day ordeal. The Race began in mid-winter at a time when there were no snowplows, few roads on the around the world route, unreliable maps, and often little food for the competitors. The original plan was to drive the cars the full distance from New York City to Paris using the frozen Bering Straits to "bridge" the Pacific. This proved impossible, requiring the competitors to cross the Pacific by ship. The Flyer arrived in Paris July 30, 1908 to win although the German Protos had been arriving there four days before.