SHOKAN, N.Y. — Shokan artist Robert Selkowitz is known for producing fine landscape paintings.
But he also has a love for automobiles, dating back 40 years ago when he sketched race cars with his baby daughter on his back in the paddock at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. So it’s hardly surprising that in 2016, Selkowitz turned his attention to developing the Catskill Conquest Rally, commemorating the 1903 Automobile Endurance Run that crossed through 14 counties in New York. The Catskill Conquest Rally route follows the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway on the historic route of the 1903 Run.
On Saturday, September 21, the eighth annual Catskill Conquest Rally will start at the Maurice D. Hinchey Catskills Visitor Center on Route 28 in Mount Tremper and follow the route of the original Automobile Endurance Run to festivals, historic museums and villages. The first leg of the trip starts on Route 28 with vintage automobiles and expensive sports cars heading west 68 miles with a stop at the Cauliflower Festival in Margaretville.
The rally will proceed to the Franklin Railroad and Community Museum in Franklin in Delaware County. The return trip of 80 miles back to the Catskills Visitor Center in Mount Tremper includes stops at Polar Bear Homemade Ice Cream and the Hanford Mills Museum in East Meredith in Delaware County. The round trip for the one-day automobile ride is under 150 miles.
Classic cars such as a 1930 Franklin seven-passenger sedan along with a variety of Triumphs, .
