The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-11-27
Snatches Victory at the
 Finish. ITALIAN CAR MAKES
 FINE BURST OF SPEED Hsmery Came Second With
 Nazarro Third. Fritz Erie was only Victim of Aeci- dent On The COurse-Event One of The Most Successful In
 The Country.
 


 of six score horses crashing and roar ing in the cylinders of a Flat car. sent p1ungirg through changing fog and sunshine over 402 miles of lilac oiled 'roadways by the experienced hands of Louis Wagner. today won the most spectacular. the longest and the fastest international automobile race ever held In this country.
 Fate played game of hide and seek with three grim and grfmy- hooded figures that sat behind big steering wheels and throttles and fought with skill and daring for an advantage of seconds at the finish of the more than six hours of driving for the honor of a, trophy cup. and a purse of gold
 The three drivers who clung to- gether from the very start were shuf- fled about like so. many cards. For q time there was fourth figure in the leading column until caprice of for tune sent one pitching from the road. Out of the mass of wreckage Fritz Erie. who had been driving the, Ger man Benz No. 19 was taken with broken nose and a broken jaw.
 It was not until the last minutes of the last lap that the tide of vic tory turned to Wagner. Navarro. the wonderful Italian driver, holder of worlds records and winner of count less contests. who had clung tenaci- ousiy to a narrow margin of lead for more than a hundred miles, hesitated too long at the supply pits to change a weakening tire and lost The treacherous rubber tubing burst as ne was about to enter the home stretch and the three minutes of delay sent the Grand Prix winner of last year and his Fiat No. from first to third
 Hemery. in a. German Bens No, 3 took second honors.
 1t was not until the official time was announced that the actual win mar was known-that Wagner had hurled himself to victory by the slen- der margin of fifty-six seconds.
 Hemery was the first to finish the sixteen laps of the race and enthusi- astic thousands hailed him as 2 VII VII ner without heed of the six minutes srace which Wagner held, Hemery Saine. gent away at the start at S:5z this morning and Wagner not getting
 
 the word until 9:5S.
 Am Exciting Finish.
 rtn roinutes of waiting after Hem nv had driven the big Beng car over the finish line seemed like hours 10 .i .ne .ahererts of the missing car, and like sractional seconds to the men who had already made the journey. "ae s,,s+ the fifth of the flying minutes was licking itself away that blast or nu- g1es and the waving of red Watchmehs flags set up the roar or Gar colllns Tron, inc most wildly excited throng ot snectato~s ever gathered at racing course Eyes were strained toward the elhow in the stretch, not half mile ewav around which the coming car would dash into view. At last It came and 1t was red. ,-,
 ayys ener Wagner, Wagner" cried +ho crowd and pitching down the etrai9htway, the red car tore for the ca atefIIl line. the big white number "I 4" glowing from the radiator and from the sides of the hood. wagner drove a remarkably steady race lie stopped several times for supplies ana once seemed to be In serious trouole right in front of the grand stand Something was wrong beneath the car and down under the maze of cranks and wheels the mechancian plunged. Tn a jiffy he was through. Wagner meantime had been pouring gasoline into one tank Wlth HIS riSht hahu anu lubricating oil into another with his left.
 out of the lead in twelve of the six teen laps of the race and gave the lead 60 Nazarro.
 Wagner is Frenehman. In 1906 he won the Vanderbilt cup in a French 4 car In winning this first grand prize < race of the Automobile Club of Amer jca Wagner set a new record for road racing in this country. George Robert S son in tht Vanderbilt cup race of 25s 4 miles last month. set the mark at 64 8 4 miles an hour. Today for the longer : distanee of 4O2 miles Wagner raised if to 65.5 He averaged twenty three minutes to each one of the sixteen laps that measured 2b. 13 miles. His fastest lap was made In 2l.50. but the Iap honors of the day went to De Palma at the wheel of Fiat No. IS. who twice made the circuit in 36. an average of about sevtnty miles an hour.
 Germany Runs Fourth.
 Rene Hanrot had raced into fourth nositton when his teammate. Erle. was disabled in the accident on White Bluff Road. but after the leading trio had finished and the usual lapse of time should have brought his white car humming into view. Hanrot was not to he seen. Suddenly Hanrot in Benz No K was discovered gliding noiselessly down the roadway, not a hundred yards from the finishing tape. The fuel in inc tanks had all been burned part way up the stretch. and the engine. which a short time before had been snarIing and biting with fiery tongues of flame at the passing winds, was sil- ant and dead Hanrot and hls mecha- njcian were working desperately to sustain the dying impetus of the car long enough to reach the Judges stand.
 Within twenty yards of the line 1t seemed the battle was lost. but In the last sxplring gasp of the exhausted machine the rear wheels cleared the tape and fourth place had been won for Germany.
 HautNast, bearded and grim, sent his clement Bayard car into fifth po- sition, while Louis Strang the young