Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1908-10-05


The 10-mile automobile race which
was the last of the series of races
held at the exposition track during
the week was the best of them all and
raised more excitement and dust than
any two other events on the program.
-Four cars competed in the race and
there was excitement galore as they
passed each other on the turns and
raced side by side in the straight
Always. Will Collins driving a Buick
and Arnold Peterson in the Meteor
from Davenport had a mixup on one
of the turns which resulted in Collins
losing the big lead he had and allow
ing his nearest competitor to over
take and pass him so far that the
difference was never regained. The
accident happened on the ninth lap
when Collins was overtaking tho Me
teor which was on the outside of the
track. Collins tried TO go inside of
him in passing and the Meteor exer
cised its right of keeping the pole and
cut across in front of him with the
result that Collins was given his choice
of hitting the other racer or running
into the fence and he gamely chose
the fence. He was hurled from his
seat and the car was turned complete
1y around. The fence for q distance
of 40 feet was demolished but for
tunately neither Collins nor his run
ing mate were injured by the terrific
impact. With a hurried glance over
his car to see if it was still in working
order Collins jumped into it and was
off again nearly a whole lap behind
the leader He rapidly recovered most
of his lost ground but was still quar-
ter of mile in the rear of the Dooley
car when it finished in first place
One of the most exciting turns in
the whole race outside of the one that
resulted in the accident was that in
which the Dooley car, driven by Mar
tin Goblin and Hubbard Dooley. passed
the car driven by Robert Smythe
The passing was done right on the
turn and both drivers showed consid-
cradle skill in handling their cars and
accomplishing the turn without acct
dent when a spill seemed inevitable.
The winner of the race was the
Dooiey car. a Pope Hartford machine.
1t wen the race after the Collins car
had lost its lead, despite the fact that
it had to run nine miles of the race
on three cylinders. the other one hav-
ing burned out a spark plug after the
first two rounds The time of the
winner was 1G minutes and 9 seconds
and Collins was A seconds behind
him
A last motorcycle race was held
during the afternoon and the three
racers had a close struggle for the
prizes Fred Myers of Davenport won
the honors on an Excelsior machine
covering the five mile course in min
utes and "a seconds. Harold Stafford
on a Reading Standard was second
and George Kahail on an Indian was
third.
Ponies Are Shown.
But one exhibit of horses was held
and that was for saddle ponies. There
were large number of entries, and the
Judge had no little difficulty in choosing
the winners Oh the TlDDOHS, DuL Ine
pony ridden by Charles Ostergrant and
owned by Patrick McNulty, the Mo
line liveryman, was finally selected
for the first prize, the blue ribbon
The pony owned by Harry Barber OF
Moline was awarded second prize and
that of another Moline lad Samue
Reed. won third place. The children
presented very pretty spectacle as
they rode around over the track il
front of the grandstand on theil
ponies and the exhibit was one of the
most interesting of the entire week.
The race for the fire chiefs of the
three cities which took place earliel
in the afternoon was ag exciting a!
any of the races of the day. The rae
was a half mile and flying start wa
made. Chief Hastings of this cit.
took the lead at the very start ant
kept on gaining all the way aroun'
the track. Hs came in nearly 30 yard
ahead of the other two chiefs VIII
were having a close race for second
which Chief Hawk of Moline won b.