Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-06-24
CAPTURES COBE CUP BY THE
MARGIN OF LITTLE MORE
THAN A MINUTE.
MAINTAINS SPEED OF 1926
MILES FOR MORE THAN
EIGHT HOURS.
ROBERTSON, PLOTTING A LOCO.
MOBILE, MADE GAME RACE
FOR POSITION.

crown ROlnJ, IQQ., june IA
Buick 40 horsepower car. driven by
Louis Chevrolet won the Cobe cup,
the major event of the Western Van
derbilt, over the 1866 miles of the
Crown POint-Lowell course yesterday
by a hair raising margin of one min
uteand five seconds. BOurQue, in con-
troll of Knox, who captured second
hOnOrs, made so desperate a bid for
victory that not until the winning
machine flashed over the tape was
the result at all certain to the frantic
spectators.
1t was s hours, l minute and SO
seconds after Starter Wagner had ut
tered the word Go" to the ultimate
victor that he crossed for the last
time Owing to that fact he was the
tenth entrant in a field of II, and that
Bourque crowded so perilOusly close
to him in the final laps, the Knox car,
No. 2 on the list, was the first to pass
the tape, his time being S:02:44. AT
this time Chevrolet was somewhere
stretch with eight minutes in which
to seize the prize. AS he flashed by
the stations along this port OF the
course, the news Of his location was
transmitted by wire to the judges
stand, and through the watches
wrought the crowd to a climax of en-
thusiasm. All eyes were turned to
the wooded hill top TO the south, over
which the speeding car would be first
discerned, but the wigwagging OF red
flags along the route heralded the
contestants advance even before he
came in sight Intense anxiety at
tended his movements to the last,
due in the main to the lively sense
of the possibility of disaster evolved
by a multitude of experiences char
acterizing the day.
The tabuIated statement shows that
ChevrOIet's fastest lap was the third
time around, PAIL, and the slowest,
the tenth circuit, in 44.01. His av-
erage was 1926 miles an hour. The
fastest lap in the race was 22.34
made by DenisOn with a Knox. The
total distance was 1866 miles, COW
cred in II laps of 1927 miles each.
The record of those who finished is:
Buick hevrOlet-8: 01:39.
Knox-BOurque-8: 02:44.
LocomobfIe-Ro bertson-8:14:30
at-Hearne-S:22:04
Stoddard acknowledgement
S:26:O5
In the eleventh lap Chevrolet broke
valve in a cylinder in such a man
ner that il could not be repaired and
he was forced to run the rest of the
day with three cylinders which made
his performance all the more remark
able. To offset this misfortune in
measure, the superior skill with
which he and his mechanician hand
led the oil cans during a stop at the
repairing pits, in spectacular compe-
tition with the teams of another rae
er, gained him time of immense value
later in the day.
The race, which showed an average
of 1926 miles an hour, was unusual
Iy slow for cars Of the 60 horsepower
class. This was even slower than
that of the light-power machines in
the Indiana trophy event Friday,
which reached the average speech Of
511a miles.
The most conspicuous feature Of
yesterdays race from technical
point of view was the wonderfully
consistent performance Of Chevrolet
From the start, when for six laps he
IAN neck-tO-neck with DenisOn, in
command of a Knox his average
scarcely varied 10 seconds. DenisOn
being put out Of the running, Robert
son at the wheel of a LOcOmobile,
took up Ne task of bearing the lead
ing Buick and after running a close
second for three laps, jumped into
the lead in the tenth and held il
twice around again, while Chevrolet
fell back.
For the next three rounds Chew
roIet wrest1ed with a load of worry.
Seeing him worn down and al but
vanquished by the terrific pace ne
had set himself his assistants at the
repair pit repeatedly signalled him to
give up. but he declined and, sum
moning up all his failing strength,
sprang into the lead in the fourteenth
lap and was never thereafter headed.
BOurque's performance, while not so
spectacular. was steady and consis-
tent. At no time was he worse than
fourth and in the thirteenth lap he
-ook the lead for brief interval,
dropping back, however, to second.
which he held with logged determine
ton to the end.
To George Robertson, plotting a
Locomobue. il was very hard race
10 lose, but he list it gameIy. Rob
ertscn ran consistently, apparently
trying more TO save his car than 10
equal some spurts made by some d~iv- /
e-s whose cars failed to finish Lhe
contest. He was never worse than |
fifth in point Of elapsed time When /
Chavrolets cylinder valve blew Ou- /
Robertson assumed the lead and /.
it until the thirteenth |
Lap, when his magnetic trouble began. |
At one time. he had a lead Of q min,
u-es and II was generally conceded /
that. barring just what did happen. he I
could not be beaten. But a Lowell. !
half way around, his magnetic failed +
him and time was lost. He limped IN /