Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-23
APPERSON WINS
FROM OLDFIELD
IACKRAcBIT TAKES RACE BY
FIVE SECONDS
BRILLIANT AUTO EVENT BEFORE
IMMENSE CROWD
Leon 7. Shelter, with Apperson and
kisseIkar, Captures Honors of
Day with Four Wins to
His Credit

In the presence of a crowd, which,
when it was released and allowed to
steam upon the course, filed Altadena
hill race course from top to bottom,
Edgar ApperSon, in his 'jackrabbit''
54-horsepoWer car yesterday lowered the
colorS OF Barney Oldfield in a StearnS
9O-horsepoWer car, in a 'gruelling race,
during which Apperson maintained a
speed of exactly one mile a minute,
covering the mile and two-fifth in 1:24
fiat, which is a record for the course.
Oldfeld was 51a seconds longer in ne
gotiating the distance. Both cars fin
ished the course, which is close to a, Is
per cent grade at the end, while traV-
cling at a terrific speed, their cars skid
ding badly under the hair-raising pace
as they rounded into the short straight
away which lies between the last bend
in the road and the finish stand 1t is
said that large sum of money
changed hands on the race, Oldfield
having, it is said, bet $1,000 of his own
money.
Hill Climb Great Success
1t was one of the most successful
hlll-climbing events ever held in Cali
fornfa, according to everyone who has
taken part in the events of preceding
years, and, SO far as accidents went,
t!-ere was not one thing to mar the en-
tire eleven events. There were a num-
Der of blasted hopes, Of course, and not
a few of the racing owners were un-
able to account for the disparity be-
tween the time of their cars and that
of those who defeated them.
There were six stop watches divided
between start and finish, however, on
every event, and representatives Of ev-
cry racing car had ample opportunity
at both ends of the course to satisfy
themselves regarding the accuracy of
the work done by the timers, and, as
there was no protest officially made, it
is safe to say that everyone was sat
isfed on this point.
Number of Fines Imposed
AS always occurs in events of this
kind, there were two or three cars
that did not finish, one of which did
not even start-the Stanley steamer
which was badly injured by it's driver
an hour before the time for starting
The Tourist and the Studebaker cars,
in the third event, for $10O1 to $500
touring cars, failed to finish, due to
what is said to have been a bit of bad
judgment on the part of the drivers
in calling upon their cars too early in
the race, before they had gotten into
their stride, the result being that their
cars were put under a handicap which
IL apparent IIlcL II was
them to attempt to finish anywhere
within favorable time to win, so they
pulled up and returned to the starting
point. A fine of $50 was imposed upon
the Stanley as a result of its failure
to start and a fine of $25 each was i'm
posed in the case of both the Tourist
and the Studebaker for not finishing.
Two other fines were imposed, one
upon Ralph c. Hamlin, who, in his
ao RI a. in h 7fc
hound, actually beat the gun by nearly
two seconds, and he was penalized for
SIS, and like fine was placed on Bert
Dingley, in the Chalmers-Detroit, for
the same technical infraction of the
rules.
interesting Review of Race
A schedule of the events run, won
and lost by the various cars entered
makes an interesting review Of the
days contests. The most sweeping sue
cess, perhaps, in the light of the num-
ber of events run by any one car, was
that Of the Kisselkar, which succeed
ed, out of five events, in winning two
f1rstS and three seconds. The only
other car to enter five events was the
Stoddard-Dayton, which won one first,
one second, two thirds and one fourth.
The next best score for a variety Of
events was that made by the Apper-
son, WHICH was entered III IOur events,
out Of which it emerged with two wins,
one second and one third, including, as
already stated, the great free-for-all,
in which Oldfeld was defeated and in
which the best time of the day was
made-1:24 fiat. Coupling the successes
of the Kisselkar and the Apperson to-
gether, the conspicuous success of the
day for any one dealer belongs to Leon
T.. Shelter, who is agent for both of
the cars named.
Protest May Result
It is unlikely that a serious and per-
haps successful protest may be made
against all the races except the
eleventh, made by the Chalmers-De-
troit cars, as Bert Dingley, the driver
for the Chalmers-Detroit in all it's
events, is said to not only have been an
outside driver, which would disbar him
under the rules, but that he is actually
a professional This fact would not
bar him in the last, or eleventh event,
which was made a free-for-all for just
exigencies as this, but the line was
Results i
Event No. 1-Runabouts and roadsters, $501