The first—and only—Van Nostrand race of the twentieth century took place in 1978, and it was contentious. “There was blood flowing down these stairs,” Mulvihill said, facetiously. The winning skipper was a retired Marine Corps pilot named Reuben Snodgrass, from Ronkonkoma. But the Shrewsbury club set the rules and awarded itself first place, on team-score grounds. “He made his own cup, he was so mad,” Mulvihill said of Snodgrass. The Snodgrass version of the Van Nostrand was on display on a nearby table, unpolished. A New Yorker had brought it down as a playful provocation. The real trophy, meanwhile, had resided in a safe that had once belonged to Mulvihill’s grandfather, a Depression-era banker. “Nobody can get in there unless they put a gun to my head,” Mulvihill said.