Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-04-24
CARS AND DRIVERS
AT BRIARCLIFF.
Special Cablegram to The Star.

special CdDegfdm 10 Inc star
BRIARCLIFF. April 24.-Louis Strang
an American. driving J. III. Tyson's Ital-
ian 5O-horsepower 1sotta machine. won
the stock car road race held over this
course today.
The race was over a course of 30. 4
miles. with many turns and dangerous
points. There were eight rounds. making
the total distance 259.2 miles.
Strang's Official elapsed time was j
hours IA minutes IL 1-5 seconds. This in
cluded ten-minnte control at Mount
kiscoon every round. The average time
including everything, was 4s. 40 miles an
hour,
Emanuel >Cedrino. driving a so-horse-
power Italian Fiat. was second. His
elapsed time was ) hours u minutes 20
seconds
Guy Vaughan. driving A. W. Church's
American 5000 horsepower Stearns ma
chine. was third. His time was ) hours
2S minutes % 10. seconds.
Four cars. Parkers. Mulfords. MUIR
phys and DIR. Planners. were put out of
the race by accidents. but nobody was
seriously hurt.
strang, the winner. was Walter
the Grand Prix race of the Automobile
Club of France in 1907. He won the long
distance stock car event at the recent
Savannah meet with the same car he
drove today.
Five cars finished before the race was
called of at 10 o'clock.
Herbert Lyttle. with an American APP
person car. was fourth. Paul SartOri,
e oil foV .ar
The race was to have been for 300
miles. hut at the eleventh hour the COM
mittee decided to eliminate laps nine and
ten. This made the race an eight-lap az
fair. each lap being 32.4 miles and the
total distance covered 259.2 miles.
Twenty-Five cars started in the race.
They were evenly divided. eleven being
American. eleven of foreign make.
At least 200O persons were strung out
over the course when the first car, the
Bianchi. driven by Sartori was sent
across the starting line at j:O7 am. The
others were started at one-minute inter-
walls
Strang. the winner. got away fourth at
finished in that position. Vaughan. was
the eighth TO get away at 1:14 am.
oldheld's Hoodoo Car.
Barney Oldfeld's hoodoo car, No H.
had a narrow squeak at 500 O'Clock
when it escaped by an inch or two from
crashing into a special train from New
York on the Putnam division at the state
road crossing half mile from Kitche-
wap.
No trains were due until o'clock
and the hagmen were taking things easy
when a special from New York. consist
ing Of an engine. tender and seven cars
all empty, whistled for the crossing and
bore down upon 1t. just as the whistle
shrieked the spectators were Mortified to
see a racing machine. tearing along at a
forty hour clip. loom through the
fog from around the curve which hides
the track from view.
The nagman made a wide jump for the
track and frantically waved to the engi-
reer to stop. The train was bowling
along at a good speed. and. although the
engineer clamped on his air brakes and
reversed his wheels. the train slid along
until the cowoatcher stood hall way
over the crossing.
There were just two things for Barney
Oldfieid TO do. He had either to swerve
and go over the rails below the crossing,
thereby counting instant misnap. or take
a chance and skim over the cOwcatcher.
In the twinkling of an eye he chose the
latter plan. and to give his car greater
stability he put on full speed
The off wheels OF his machine struck
the projecting cowcatcher. and the ma
chine tilted until IL assumed an angle OF
Is degrees. The spectators held their
breaths. for II looked as If the machine
would surely flop over. In an instant the
the machine suddenly righted itself, and
the car sped safely on. -
Along behind Oldheld came Roberts in
car No. II. which mad been passed by the
Stearns machine. but by that time the en-
gineer had reversed his engine and backed
l. ,tvN no aco3n