Los Angeles herald., 1909-04-04
RECENT RACE SAID
TO Be REMARKABLE
Lay Dealers Call IL Luck, but Man.
ayers and Supply Dealers Say 1t
Was Entirely a Question of
Quality

Aftermatch gossip regarding the Lo-
comobile-Stearns race of last Sunday
has crystallized one thought very
clearly in the public mind-that it was
a more remarkable race than was at
first considered. Many automobile men
who have followed the racing phase of
the automobile trade for many years
are emphatic that there was an I'M
usual amount of what they are pleased
to call "luck'' involved in the perfect
scores of both cars, in so far as the
scores had to do with the uninterrupt-
ed running of both machines without
any stops which could be attributed
to the cars themselves or to their
equipment The managers of the cars
and the friends who equipped them
with accessories, however, say 1t was
not luck, but quality"
However perfect q piece of machln>
cry or the rolling ability of a vehicle
may be, it is almost to be expected that
something should happen somewhere
during a race that stretches out for loo
miles which would require one or the
other racers to stop for some temper
ary adjustment, to replace tires or 90
something which would make for some
DELAY. The only stop made in the race
was the one which robbed the Stearns
of any show to defeat the Locomobile
and that was not the fault of the car
or its ordinary equipment, but rather
to the unfortunate failure OF the
Stearns managers to add suff1clent
tank capacity to their car to permit
of their carrying enough gasoline and
oil to last them through the entira dis
tance.
OF the entire equipment of either car
no greater test of endurance came any
where more than on the tires, point
where most racing men are most prone
to look to first for stops and delays
in race of such a distance. IL Is,
tribute of unusual significance to both
makes of tires involved in the race
that neither of them was shown to
have the slightest defects under so
severe a test and both cars could un-
doubtedly have gone on for an indefi-
mite distance beyond the $50 miles be-
fore "tire trouble" would have shown.
The Locomobile, which was the VIM
ming car, was equipped with Fisk de-
mountable rims and Fisk tires, while
the Stearns was equipped with Fire
stone tires and Continental demount-
able rims, the rims made by the Fire
stone not being available in time for
the race. At the close of the race both
the Fisk and the Firestone tires were
in splendid condition, showing but lit
tie wear when the great test imposed
upon them is COHSluereu, dLu, dS Sldl-
ed, both cars could have gone on in
definitely without either of these tires
yielding to the wearing down of their
outer surfaces from the continued cir
cult, mile after mile, over rough
ground and pushing almost constantly
against the outer sides of the tires as
the scircle of the track was described
by both cars. Both tire factories were
supplied with ample extra tires for
quick substitution in case an change
was necessary and which was almost
to be expected, but their foresighted-
ness was only rewarded by their being
compelled to lug these extras back TO
the local branches after the race was
over.
The demonstration made by the
Valvoline people of the purity of their
oil in permitting the Locomobile to
run the last twenty or twenty-five
miles of the race with its oil tank
empty is another of the surprises of
the race which racing men pronounce
as nothing short of miraculous, DEM
onstration which it would tax many
oils on the market to duplicate.