The sun., 1903-11-01
SMASH.UP AT AUTO RACES.
ALBERT (H4MPTON'S RACER
DIVES THROUGH THE FENCE.
ChampiOn's Thigh Badly Br0ken-The
Track ROush-.tnOther Man Goes
Through Fence. but Is Unhurt--Good
Sport on the Brighton Beach Track.


A long afternoon of interesting automobile
racing at the Brighton Beach track under the
auspices of the Long Island Automobile Club
was Inarrad yesterday by a sensational acci-
dent in which Albert Champion. famous As a
bicyclist, crashed through the inReld fence
ard sustained injuries that are likely to
cripple and main him Tor life. There was
also second accident in which another man
ran his car through the fence, but he was not
hurt.
The accident to Champion occurred at 40
O'Clock. when the eighth event of the pro-
gra,nuC. an unlimited pursuit race. was being
run. and il wus beginning to get dark. There
were three cars in the race started from stand
still at points equally distant about the track,
Champion. who had volunteered to drive the
twenty-five horse power Packard car OF Henry
Cunningham. dubbed the Gray Wolf. started
from point near the three-quarter pole.
W. G.. Brokaw's car started from beneath
the wire. and 7. A. La Roche started OH the
backstretch at n point between these two.
Champion had just about made one circuit
OF the track and both the other cGis were
gaining on him, when in the turn his car was
seen to swervc suddenly and dive through
the heavy fence of the infeld Thcro was
instant confusion among the three or four
thousand spectators. who stood and gaped
at the spot on the turf quarter Of mile
away. where a crowd was gathering, and the
race was forgotten. The two other cars
in the race whiZzed past the scene OF acci-
dent soon after the crash. and soon after
they rolled past again. Then the Brokaw
car caught the other in the stretch. and tho
race was over. No one care1 .o. .s"t
Stretched on the turf of the steeplechase
course, twenty feet from the infeld fence
and nearly hundred feet from his wrecked
racing car. Champion lay un conscious. WIN
his right hip and thigh covered with oiooo'
He soon regained consciousness. anu lay
silent while physicians from among the spec,
tators stan ched the flow OF blood ana 'ieu
the leg up in emergency spints whle a""IV
ms the arrival of hospital surgeons anu "i,
ambulance. The doctors said that II "as va"
case of compound fracture Of the thigh.
The bone was crushed and had broken through
the flesh No positive opinion could be gwen.
but il was feared that amputation miGht
hc necessary. Champion was taken TO the
Kings County Hospital.
Champions car lay with its gray nose
to the ground n hundred feet from where
he had landed, and yet the seat where ne
sat was bathed with blood on the right hall
OF it, 4 piece OF the one-inch palnG from
the fence stuck through a gap in the pointed.
gray metal bonnet The front wheels lay
sprawled out. the spokes OF the right hand
wheel being snapped of AT tho hub
They were Nirc wheels. The fence through
which the machine had come. presented
peculiar hsl,ect. Two posts about ten feet
apart had been torn from. their beds, and the
middle rail board. or paling. had been torn
away for about twenty feet. but the top rail-
OF the fence still stood. This showed tha,
Champion must have seen his danger and
thought quick enough to duck his head so
thar the low racing craft and he went under
the top rail. His Injury was caused by col
hsin lower
the front whrei broke Will he was turning
it and trying to hug the pole. or whether the
control while the front. wheels, were - in
the air is uncertain. Opinions diner. The
nf had 4s no sS r 5sd a a ShSTef an that mt
in 70 il, By the man at the wheel. Cunning.
and said that he had refused TO drive the
cnr because Ec thought the track dan gerons,
Others thought that the front wheel had broken
while the car was being twisted through the
turn.
Champion is Frcnchman who has been IL,
ms cHrny soon ns 'hTSS ons W
On last Labor Day he made the world 3 record
OF 81 seconds Tor motor n bicycle on ths IN,
, thnt once when friends came running up to
him after n severe fall on the bicycle track.
MnS ons G 20 az nanarrs n4ry %hst %% you %nh h
/ fall and roil --easr."
III was - tNtf null al! iiouT a!teT NhuNlpIoil
was hurt that the second mishap occurred
Jac last race of the day had been run. The
automobiles of the spectators were coughing
on their way through the gate. The grand
stand was empty. The. half moon and even
ing star looked over the. roof OF the stand
who had finished third in the handicap had
Just made his slowing up turn about the
track and was near the exit gate when crash
and cry werc heard. Then PanE's car was
seen TO bH overturned at spot where II big
section of thc inn"id fence and one post was
The crow looked under the car with breaths
b1t"d in horror, Others began IA search
of tive iuli'ld. wonderng how far the operator
had ben thrown. u was five minutes before
it was learned that he was unhurt and had
run away when the chr hit tHe fcnc" and
tina. and WAS close TO tho ,frnc". when the hub
on the inside front wheel hit ono of the fence
posts which werN barely VI siblo IN the dusk
Tho race meeting. which was the second
ono rln Ivy the club. was productive Of good
sport hnt no now records II was well man
Hanafnrh Of the racing committee for or
ranromonts that kept the crowd away from
the track rails and removed the danger of
nccidcn'- 10 visitors. There was big ntten-
dance of pavtics in motor cars at least 700
, vci iolcs h'inr racR.d in front Of tho pnd-
~ ,corg" e, Cannon nnd John W. Howard,
from which N"W records were eS pacted were
i.or fast enough. The hns. showing OF tho
dav l,os rrni" hv W. Gonld's Rcnault. which
Va, "rcry t,co in which IL started The
,ha'Nn'r operating II showed TINT Barney
dry woro made by fhis nov stsr OF tho racing
sl;v rhov wcrc thc sixth and seventh miles
, of tho fftcen mile race These were both
negotiated IN minute Us seconds.