Los Angeles herald., 1909-05-03
'SIEFERT IS THE
NEW ROAD HERO
MAKES A WILD RECORD RUN
TO SANTA BARBARA
Reaches Ventura in One Hour and
Thirty-eIght minutes, and Goes
Into Santa Barbara
on a jog

Frank Siefert, by making a hard
daylight run from Los Angeles to
Santa Barbara Sunday morning. is the
new automobile hero of the road TO
challenge other daring riders and in
cidentaily to lower the record between
these two points made by Bill Ruess
two weeks ago.
Siefert succeeded in clipping off the
fatalistic "23" minutes from the Ruess
record of 8 hours and 80 minutes, ne
gotiating the distance in hours ana
IL minutes, although, to keep the rec
ord absolutely straight, it must be ad-
mitted that the Siefert run was made
in a light roadster-the rakish looking
red Stoddard- Dayton car that has be-
come a familiar sight on the city
streets-whereas Ruess made ms MID
night run in a flve-passenger Pope
Hartford touring car. Siefert, py walt
mo ,,ntiiv daylight, required no search
light to pick out the ruts and the turns
in the road, while Ruess and ms party
depended entirely on one searchlght TO
guide them through an otherwise I'M
penetrable gloom.
Record Won Before Ventura
However it is weighed. the Seifert
run is nevertheless a remarkable one,
grades and rough roads considered,
Including many heavy mountain ROAD
ascents. When all the facts connected
with the run are considered, IT becomes
ever more remarkable, the real race
having been run long before ventura
was reached, and from thal ZINE 81 ~
Siefert saws he was only required 10
log along in order to get inside OF the
Ruess mark.
Siefert's real purpose when leaving
Los Angeles was to make Santa Bar
bara in three hours fiat, or even bet
ter. 1t was his opinion that 1t coulo pc
done in 2 hours and As minutes by push
ing his machine and providing no un
foreseen obstacles presented Them
selves. This conclusion was reached a
week ago. when, in company with
Harry Woods of Santa Barbara, VINO
also accompanied him as mechanician
on Yesterday mornings run, ne Went
over the entire course and prepared
schedule from point to point when ne
believed he could maintain with tne
Stoddard- DAYTON. This was the first
and only time that Siefert had gone
over the treacherous course for fve
Years. and the hurried examination
made by him of the physical condi-
tions of the road in preparing ms
schedule was, the only thing he mad 70
depend upon in picking out his road,
save the valuable assistance rendered
him at every point of the road by ms
Communion. Woods, who knows the
road practically every inch OF the
way. oo
Siefert left the Hotel Lankershim in
| this city at exactly 4:30 o'clock Sunday
morning. the hour being stamped on a
letter which he bore by the time CLOCK
at the clerks desk in the hotel.
| He had gone no further than vermont
avenue. however, before tire blew
/ y Ices IF Tina was made 0eCeS-
sary to change the demountable rims
| Despite this delay Cahuenga pass was
reached in the terrific time of fourteen
minutes, while parties stationed along
| the pass say they have never seen sucn
a sight as Siefert made in eating up
the grades of the hill in his mad dash.
Not a thing occurred to again cause
DELAY until the environs of Ventura
were being approached, when another
tire was rendered hors de combat by
puncture caused by S1eferts taking
the railroad crossing at too lively
clip.
Siefert nevertheless did not stop his
car the leak being slow one, until
compelled to do so short distance be-
vond Ventura, as he was anxious to es-
| tahIish as good a record into that
Mace as possible. He did slow up
bit, however, in order to save the tires
as much as possible, and passed
through Ventura in almost unbelievable
time, only / hour and SO minutes hav-
ing been consumed at that point
Ruess' record to Ventura was hours
and minutes.
| At the time that his tire was pune
tured Siefert realized that he was we'll
within the three-hour schedule he had
mapped out for himself and that by
continuing a twenty or twenty five mile
clip from that point on he would still
be inside of the Ruess figures at Santa
Barbara. The nuts in his wheels were
also working loose from the terrli1c
pounding given Them he says, and he
| did not dare take any chances on being