Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-11-07
FRANKLIN ENTERS
RACE TO PHOENIX
FOUR CARS WILL LINE UP AT
IL O'CLOCK TONIGHT
Crew ON Air.cooIed Car Plans to Co
Through to Phoenix Without
Changing - Other Crews
viii Relay Drivers

Late yesterday afternoon new en-
try was announced for the Los An
geles- Phoenix race. Ralph Hamlin will
enter the Franklin six" that did such
creditable work at Ascot park last Sat-
urday and Sunday.
Hamlin expects to post his entry fee
OF $500. While the entries were Off
cially closed at noon of last Sunday
the other entrants have consented to
Hamlin entering car. Ralph Hamlin
and Guy Irwin will drive all of the
way and it is expected that they will
have a guide from Phoenix, who was
wired to leave last night for Los An
geles.
George Adair has severed his con-
nection with the White garage and 1t
is possible that he may be chosen to
guide Hamlin over the road, as he
returned q few days ago from a pros
pecting trip that extended to within
few miles of the Colorado river.
The Tobasco crew has been fitted out
| by Leon G.. Shelter with sweaters,
caps, khaki trousers and high topped
boots that are uniform in style and
present very imposing array when
| Lney line up WIN the car.
The final arrangement of the Tobasco
crew will be for Bert Latham and
Lee Gehricke to drive to Banning, at
which place Harris Hanshue and c. H.
Bigelow will get on board and Lee Geh-
ricke will drop off to return by rail.
D. e. Robertson and A. j. Westphall
will drive the REQ Kiddo to Banning
to see the cars go by that place. Cap
tain III, d. Ryus and Happy" Forbes
| -. TI.a IL, -
where Il. G. Fenner will take the wheel.
1t was originally planned to have
| George Adair as second man with
Fenner, but Billy Ferguson will take
his place.
D. B. Rose will drive the Gilmore
Bull Dog to Banning with. A. J. Smith,
and there George Dake will be waiting.
| Smith will then take the wheel and he
and Dake will fight the desert by them
selves.
Smith has made ample provision for
gasoline and oil supply and will carry
enough to last the whole trip without
renewing the supply. The water in
| the radiator he believes will be all that
| he will need, as on the down trip he
consumed only one gallon in the en-
CINE, but he and Dake drank five gal
Ions in one day while they were bar-
| Ting with the sand in one place for
| GISuL
"If we have no more trouble with
the engine than we did on our pre-
| liminary we will make a perfect score, -
| said Andy Smith while he was dis
eussing his chance of winning. Moth
| ing but road conditions that all will
have to go against alike held us back.
| The engine never gave us a bit of
trouble and we do not think it will in
the race. 1t was remarkable that when
| fl0 ha1 n ffeas-1 a r.
ing the run to Phoenix that the odome-
ter registered five twos The mileage
4 done by the car since 1 got it for a
| demonstration q few weeks ago was
| Just 2222.2 miles. Such a string of twos
cannot last, so we figured it as a good
omen that we vii break the line and
get in first"
Cars TO Be Checked at Dos Palms
The cars can be kept track of until
| they reach and pass Mecca, but after
that there will be only one report I'M
less someone coming from the other
direction passes them and brings in
word.
From Banning on the trouble begins
and sand is the greatest difficulty that
/ the crews will have to overcome. From
Mecca to Dos Palms it could hardly be
worse and be passable. There is a
road that would be shorter and avoid
some of the difficulties, but the cars
will have to follow the prescribed
route Two men will be at Dos Palms
to see that the cars pass that point
according to the rules At the Colo
RADIO river two more men will be sta
toned who will take the time of the
cars consumed in crossing the river.
At Buckeye four men will wait and
they will act as pilots to take the cars
into Phoenix. Buckeye Is thirty-fiva
miles out and the roads leading into
| the city of Phoenix will be patroled
so that the cars can go flying in.
There has been but little betting on
the race here as there are SO many
things that enter into calculations that
no dope is available. The race will be
the most trying of any automobile race
| ever pulled off over course of an
equal distance. Every man who has
| driven a car over the sandy desert
says the same thing about it. That
| one cannot realize what 1t is until 1t
! has been tried.
| Mile after mile the cars will crawl
under a burning sun at a snaiPs pace.
| Low gear will have to be used for much
of the way and then the wheels will
1 spin through the shifting sand. digging
holes to bury themselves in. IT is then
| that a good husky crew will help at
the rear end of the car.
Worse than the sand is the lava for
nation that has been rolled over the
desert by the summer winds until the
whole ground is covered for a depth
| of several feet with tiny globular peb-
bles Of lava. They have been worn so
round that they slip out from under
the tires like so many peas or mar
| bles.
| For over a hundred miles of the
course there are no houses or human
beings living. Only two places in that
distance furnish water, and that is
hardly fit to drink.
When the river is neared the road
and geological conditions change For
several miles the road is narrow cut
through a growth of willows that veil
everything from view except a little
part of the road ahead and behind.
For ages the river deposited silt when
it overlooked and then cut a channel
elsewhere. A growth of willows now
| covers all of the overlooked country
except where homesteaders have cut 1t
away.
The schedules that have been made
| for the trip have not been made pub
lie, but. at the White garage they are
counting on making the run in a little
less than twenty-seven hours.
The car that does 1t In thirty will
have a great deal to talk about.
RESULTS AT LATONIA
f-TNJfsThJJ ATT Nov s-Latonia results: