The morning journal-courier., 1908-11-27
" AGNER IN FIAT
 WINS GRAND PRIZE
Continued from First page)

away, vita steadiness of a locomo-
 tive on highly polished rails, the red
 car tore for the fatofll line. the big
 white number "14" glowing from the
 radiator and from the sides of the hood to tell that there was no mistake
 in the identity of the driver. But the cheers of tho crowd suddenly changed
 to an oppressive hush as the narrow ness of the time margin was realized and 1t was until the judges signalled
 to the anxious little group of Italian workmen in the supply pits that it was definitely known who had won
 Wagner drove a remarkably steady race. He stopped several times for supplies and once seemed to be in
 serious trouble right in front of the | grand stand Something was wrong l beneath the car. and down under tho maze of cranks and wheels tho me- 1 chanician plunged as soon as the
 brakes had brought tho car to 9 stop, i The exhaust from the loudly ayplod-
 ing cylinders was discharging its
 choking blast of gas burned fumes
 riht where the mechanician was work | ing, but in the frcnziod excitement of
 the race he seemed to pay not the
 slightest heed to tho obnoxious vapor.
 In a iiffy ne was through Wagner,
 meantime. had been pouring gasoline into one tank with his right hand and l lubricatng oil into another with his left The rules of the race prohibited
 them from accepting outside help
 Just before climbing back into their
 bucket seats both Wagner and his aii | grabbed yiciously for two bottles of
 champaano which had been sot tempt ingly at the edge of the pit by the
 men in the supply trench, and drained
 them sreedlT, Then they flew away
 with the cneers of the throng ringing
 in their ears II was this delay that
 took Wagner out of the lead in the
 twelfth lap of the race and gave t 10
 Navarro, who lost lt later. The fact
 that car of his town team won the
 race, however wns but little comfort
 to Nazarro. An Italian himself, he
 wanted to win in an Italian car Wag-
 ner is Frenchman In 1906 Wag-
 nor won the Vanderbilt cup in a
 French car and his driving then oyer
 the Long Island course was a replica
 of the steady nerve and skill which nc
 displayed SO brilliantly today.
 Wagner set new record for road
 racing in this country George Robert
 son, in the Vanderbilt cup race of 25; miles last month, set the mark at 6.; : miles an hour Today for the longer distance of 4o2 miles, Wagner raised 1t to 655.
 He averaged g minutes to each onc . of the IS laps of 2513 miles His fast : est lap was made in 2l 30 but the lar honors of the day went to De Palma in the Fiat, No. IS who twice made tho : circuit in 21,36 or an average of about |. 70 miles an hour Racing experts las . night agreed that the race would lir between Wagner Hemery and Nazar. , TO, but this trio had to look sharply tc their laurels for after the winner snc place mon had been hailed a new hero . sprang into being Rene Hanrot, iova : and popular raced into fourth posi- . ton but his last drop of fuel in tho bis , barrel tanks had been exhausted anC the engine which a short time before . had been snarling and biting with fiery tongues of flame became silent ant ! dead as he approached the eranC . stand Hanrot and his mechanician with waving hands ana forward jock ewing of their bodies were working . desperately to sustain the dying I'm petus of the car long enough to reacl the judges stand Within 20 yard of the line it seemed that the battl, was lost. but In the last expiring gasr of the exhausted machine, the req wheels cleared the tape and fourtf place had been won for Germany,
 It was like the finish of q Marathon and the crowd cheered Itself hoarse, a Hanrot was lifted from the car into thu F arms of his teammates
 8 Hautvast, bearded and grim sent hi
 Clement Bayard car into fifth position
 despite lis handicap of No 13 Louis . strang was sixth in his Renault Nc 2 16, and received an ovation from hi friends, Rigal of the Clement team finished seventh. Dc Palma In q Fiat eighth and Fournier in an 1tala ninth When these cars had crossed the lin the race was officially declared at al end although several of the other con