The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-20
Daring Frenchman Drives Ma chine With Only Three
 Cylinders Working
BOURQUE FINISHES SECOND
 WITH ROBERTSON THIRD
lnnumerable List of Accidents to Strang and His Splendid Bearing Cause Continuous Cheering.
 Forty-one Patients.

Grown Point, Ind, June 19.-A Buick 40- horsepower car driven by Louis Chev- Iolet won the Cobe cup, the major event of the Western Vanderbilt meet over the ss5.66 miles of the Crown Point Low ell course today by the hair raising mar gin of 1 minute and seconds.
 Bourque in control of a Knox, who captured second honors, made so desper- ate bid for victory that not until the winning machine flashed over the tape was the result at all certain to the fran tie spectators. It was hours, 1 minute and Ss seconds after Starter Wagner had uttered the word to go to the ultimate victor that Chevrolet crossed the line for the last time.
 Owing to the fact that Chevrolet was the tenth entrant in a field of I and that Bourque crowded so perilously close to him in the final laps, the Knox car, number two on the list, was the first to pass the tape, his time being S:02:44 At this time Chevrolet was somewhere near the beginning of the long south stretch with minutes in which to seize the prize. As he flashed by the stations along this part of the course the news of his location, transmitted by wire to the judges stands and through the watchers wrought them to a climax of enthusiasm All eyes were turned to the wooded hill top to the south over which the speed ing car would be first discerned, but the wigwagging of the red flags along the route heralded the contestants ad- vance even before he came in sight The intense anxiety attending his movements to the last foot was due in the main to a lively sense of the possibility of a disaster evolved by a multitude of rough experiences which characterized the day.
 Table of Results.
 Following Is a table of today's doings:
 One lap, 23.27 miles. Total distance, F laps, Ss5.65 miles. Average time of win ner, 49.96 miles per hour Fastest lap 2234 by Denison with Knox The follow. ing table shows the record of each cal and order of finish:
 Car, Buick; driver, Chevrolet time S:01 :39
 Knox; Bourque; S:02:A
 Locomobile Robertson; S:14.30.
 Fiat; Hearne; S:22:04.
 Stoddard-Dayton; Engelbeck; S:26:O5.
 "Buick; Strang Q3 laps); S:1415
 Stoddard-Dayton; Miller Q2 laps) 6:46:34.
 Apperson; Lytle G1 laps) 6:37.26
 Knox; Denison G laps) 2:29:4S
 Buick; Burnam 0 laps); 2:02.51
 Appenson; Seymour 6 laps); 1:26:13.
 Locomobile; Florida (out in first lap)
 %-Strang was still on course when race finished.
 Speed Was Disappointment.
 In the eleventh lap Chevrolet broke a valve in a cylinder in such a manner that it could not be replaced and he was forced to run the rest of the day with three cylinders, which made his perform ance all the more remarkable. To offset this misfortune, in a measure, the supe- rior skill with which he and his machini- elan handled the oil cans during a stop at the repairing pits in spectacular com petition with the teams of another racer. gained him time of immense value later in the day
 The race, which showed an average of 49 .56 piles an hour, was unusually slow for cars of the 60-horsepoWer class. This was even slower than that of the light power machines in the Indiana trophy event of yesterday, which reached an average speed of 511a miles. The big race of today, 1t was expected would naturally exceed this feature, but the load of trouble which assailed the cars and drivers from the very beginning, together with the fact that the roadway at the turns was literally cut to ribbons by the almost continuous performance of the two days racing, slowed down the heavy motors to a most unexpected degree and upset all calculations.
 chevroIet's Consistent Work.
 The most conspicuous feature of the days race from a technical point of view was the consistent performance of Chev- rolet From the start, when for six laps he ran neck to neck with Denison, in command of Knox, his average scarce ly varied IS seconds. Denison being put out of the running, Robertson, at the wheel of a Locomobile, took up the task of beating the leading Buick and after running a close second for three laps, Jumped into the lead in the tenth and held it twice around again, while Chev- rolet fell back.
 For the next three rounds Chevrolet wrestled with load of worry. Seeing him worn down and all but vanquished by the terrific pace he had set himself, his assistants at the repair pit repeatedly signaled him to give up. but he de- ciined and, summoning all of his failing strength, sprang into the lead in the fourteenth lap and was never thereafter headed
 Bourdue's performance, while not so spectacular, was steady and consistent. At no time was he worse than fourth and in the thirteenth lap took the lead for a brief interval dropping back, however. to second, which he held with dogged determination to the end.
 Robertson's Withdrawal.
 To George Robertson, the big blonde customer, pfloting one of the Locomo- bile entries, it was a very hard race to