Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-20
THE AWFUL PACE
OF DEATH CARS
BURNHAM LAYS LOW OLDFIELD
RECORD RUN
New Mile Mark by Eight Seconds In
High Power Car-killing
of Two Demands
Changes
LBy Asgoeiated Press. ]

rBy Associated PressJ
INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 19.-Two lives
were lost at the opening Of tde new
Indianapolis motor speedway today
William Bourque driver of the Knox
car in the 250-mile race, md Harry
HOlcomb his mecnaniCian, were killed
by crashing into a fence
Two records were broken. Barney
Oldfeld, driving d high-power Benz.
covered a mile in :43 1-10, breaking De
Palmas' mark of 81, and Louis CheN-
roet, in a Buick made ten miles In
S56 4-1o, cutting Oldfelds time Of 9.l2.
Robert Burman won the 250-nlt'a
race, the feature of the day 1t was
this contest that cost Bourque and
Holcomb their lives. The winner 3
time was 4:36:57 4-1o. slow because II
the many accidents that marred fNa
race The acknowledgement elem 3uts
was second in 4:46:01 $40, and the Ma
tional (Merz) finished third IN
4:52:39 7-10. Another National was the
only car of ten starters 10 finish.
The death of the two men caused the
American Automobile association to
inform the owners of the track that
certain changes must be made by to-
morrow or sanction for the remaining
events will be withdrawn.
Demands Track Changes
The association demands that the
track be freed from it's many danger
Gus ruts and that every inch of 1t be
thoroughly oiled and tarred. Today
only a short portion in front of the
grandstand was oiled, and the dust on
the other parts is blamed for the col
lapse of the drivers in the long race
Louis Chevrolet and Fred Ellis-who
were blinded by the dense white dust
that covered the major portion of the
track.
Bourque and HoIcomb Dead
The Knox car was in second place,
with Burman in his Buick leading, and
had covered nearly $50 miles, when
the crash came. While coming down
the home stretch the car suddenly
swerved and tore into the fence at the
left on the track, turning completely
over and pinning its two occupants be-
meath it. Both men were alive when
taken from under the wreck, but
Bourque died in the ambulance on the
way to the emergency hospital. Hol-
comb died a few minutes after he ar
rived at the hospital.
According to the story told by Pri-
vate Frank Brander of the Indiana
national guard, who was nearest the
accident, something caused both men
suddenly to turn and look back. AS
they did so the steering wheel slipped
from Bourque's hands. Then came the
accident.
Bourque was 26 years old and lived
at Springfield, Mass.
Holcomb was % years old and lived
at Grandville, Mass. Both men were
unmarried.
Albert Denison, racing partner of
Bourque, collapsed after the accident.
The sight of the men lying dead was
too much for the friend of both, who
had been called upon SO often to face
death in the same manner.
French Driver Blinded
Louis Chevrolet, the French driver
! Of the Buick team, was led into the
| hospital, almost blinded with the tar
and dust from the track, shortly after
the two men had been killed. The
Frenchman, who had been leading dur
ing the early part of the. long race.
was forced to give up. He gazed upon
the bodies of his two former rivals,
then overcome by emotion, staggered
to chair. AS a result of the two
deaths, the Knox company has with
drawn all its entries for the next two
days and it is said it will probably
never again enter its cars in a raoe,
The following cars started in the 25U-
mile contest:
strang's Car on Fire
Knox (Bourque), National CKincaid).
National (Morse), Stoddard-Dayton
(Ndiller) Buick (Burman), Buck
(Strang), Buick (ChevroleD, jackson
(Ellis). Stoddard-Dayton (Clements).
Strang was the first to come to grief
as his car caught fire before he had
completed one lap. He was DELAYED
some time by this and the OFFICIALS at
first refused to allow him to continue
as he and his mechanician had been
aided by the track volunteer fire COM
panv in extinguishing the blaze. A
ter a long discussion Strang was al
lowed to continue, but the remaindef
of the field had then gained about ht-
teen miles on him and he dropped utN
Chevrolet dashed into the lead at the
start and held it for fifty-two laps or
more than half the race with the brief
exception of the fifteenth and sixteenth
lans when he relinquished 1t to his
team mate, Burman. the winner When
he was blinded by dust he was led
from the track and his car Withdrawn
Miller in a Stoddard-Dayton' also
gave up.
Bucks Clean Sweep
II was in the second event, ten
mile race for stripped chassis, that the
first record was broken. Chevrolet
won easily and apparently with little
difficulty in cutting Oldfields record
from, q.12 to 1856 AS. This race was a
clean sWeep for the Bucks, as Strang
finished second and Burman third.
The closest race came in the tive-mlle
stripped chassis event won by Burman man
in a Buick, after a fierce struggle WIN
BoIlroue. The two mighty cars tore
around the track with wheels almost
touching throughout the five miles,
-~s-s<-----
It's as easy to secure a bargain IN uSea
automobile through want advertising, as ~
used to be-and still is-to secure " horso
and carriage. ----------