The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1908-12-04
MAD AUTOMOBILE RAGE
WON AT SAVANNAH BY WAGNER
IN GRANDsTAND FINISH.
GOES 4O2 NILES IN $40 MINUTES
All American Records Smashed In
Most Spectacular Event in His
tory Of Auto Racing.

Savannah, Ga, Special: Six score
of Italian horses, 100 horsepower,
crashing and roaring in the cylinders
of a Fiat car sent plunging through
changing fog and sunshine OF i02 miles
of oiled roadways by the experienced
hands of Louis Wagner, won the most
spectacular. the longest and the fast
est international automobile race ever
held in this country on Thanksgiving
day.
The three drivers who chung togeth-
or from the very start were shufiied
about like SO many cards as the lying
laps were reeled away. For a time
there was a fourth figure ia the lead
ing column. but when little more than
a minute separated the first from the
last of the cars in the whirring quar-
tet caprice of fortune sent one
pitching from the road.
Out Of the mass of wreckage Fritz
Erie who had been driving the Ger
man Benz No. 10. was taken with a
broken nose and broken jaw. Still
the struggle continued and it was not
until the last minute OF the last lap
that the tide of victory turned to Wag-
ner. Nazarro, the wonderful Italian
Il
winner Of countless contests, who had
chung tenaciously to narrow margin
OF lead for more than 100 miles, hest
tated long enough at the supply PITS
TO change a weakening tire. and lost.
Ii was not until the Official time was
announced that the actual winner was
known-that Wagner had hurled him
self 10 victory by the slender margin
of ffty-six seconds. Hembery was the
first TO finish the sixteen laps OF the
race and enthusiastic thousands hailed
him as a winner without heed or the
six minutes grace which Wagner held.
Hemery being sent away al the start
al 1852 this morning and Wagner not
getting the word TO go until s;5S.
The minutes of waiting after Hem
cry had driven the big Benz car over
the finish line seemed like hours to
\ the adherents OF the missing car and
| like fractional seconds 10 the men who
+ had made the journey. but had not yet
won. IL was just as the NTH OF the
/ nving minutes was ticking itself away
that the blast OF bugles and the wav'
\ ing OF red watchmen's flags set up the
roar of car coming from the most
wildly excited crowd of spectators
ever gathered at a racing course.
Wagner. Wagner, Wagner cried
/ the crowd. and pitching down the
\ straightaway with the steadiness OF a
locomotive. the red car tore for the
fateful line. the big white number IA
glowing from the radiator and from
the sides of the hood 10 tell that there
was no mistake in the Identity OF the
driver.
Wagner drove a remarkably steady
race lie stopped several times Tor
supplies. and once seemed TO be IN
serious trouble right in front OF the
srandstand. Something was wrong be
meath the car. and down under the
maze of cranks and wheels the me
chanician plunged as soon as the
brakes had brought the sliding car e
a stop The rules of the race barred
the men in the cars from accepting
any outside help whatsoever, and Nag
ner and his mechanician made quicf
repairs unaided.
Wagner set new record for roaC
racing in this country. George Robert
son IN the Vanderbilt Cup Race Of 25'
miles last month set the mark OF Ca
miles an hour. For the longer dis
lance of 400 miles, Wagner raised ]
10 c5.5. He averaged twenty-tnre'
minutes to one each OF the sixteei
Ians that measured 25l3 miles. Hi
fastest lap was made in 2l.50. but tn
Ion honors of the day went TO ID
palma az the wheel OF Fiat No. is, VIII
twice made the circuit in 2l.3G. an ay
erage of about seventy miles an houT