Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-31
Grant Awarded Vanderbilt
Classic After Rumpus.
MISTAKE MADE BY TIMERS
Parker, Second, Threatened to Pro-
test, But Gives Way.
PATRON ROWS WITH OFFICIALS
Numerous But Insignificant Acct
dents-Three Simultaneous
Races Confuse Records.

NEW YORK. October 3o.-The nth
Vanderbilt cup race was won today by
Harry F. Grant. driving a sixty horse
power Alec car, the only six-cylinder ma
chine in the race. His time for the
27s.Os miles was hours % minutes AZ
seconds an average speed Of 62.S miles
an hour.
Edward H. Parker. driving a forty-fve-
horsepower Fiat. finished second. min
utes and 15 seconds behind Grant.
William Knipper, driving a forty-horse-
power Chalmers-Detroit, was I'm third
place when the race was declared ended
by the officers in charge
Two other cars. the Mercedes, driven by
Wishart. an amateur. and the Atlas
driven by Knox. were the only remain
ing machines among the fifteen entrants
for the Vanderbilt trophy which were
still on the course at the end of the
race.
Contest Is Spiritless.
Compared with previous Vanderbilt cup
races, the contest this year. reduced tc
the level Of an ordinary stock car event
was tame and spiritless. The winners
average speed. 62.S miles an hour. was a
disappointment to many. who had ex-
pected that the mark made by Robertson
in his Locom0bile last year, 64.3 miles ar
hour, would be excelled.
Although accidents to cars were numer
GUS. and one after another was retired
by the failure of machinery or by dis
asters at some Of the dangerous turns. NJ
| one--either contestant or spectator-suf
fered any serious injury.
Weather and road conditions were un
surpassed Attendance was scarcely or
a par with that at former Vanderbilt cuI
| races, the most optimistic estimates plac
Ing the crowd at less than 10000.
Contest Is Muddled.
Poor management and lack OF officia
judgment marred the race from beginning
to end. One OF the worst instances o.
this occurred just before the finish. wher
1t was suddenly discovered that the Off
cial timers had omitted to credit Grant,
| Alec with its twentieth lap.
When he came round on his twenty
| first lap it was at first recorded as th'
twentieth. AS he came In sight for hi
| twenty-second and final round the ms
| take was noticed and the score board wa:
Grants name was moved up from thirl
place to first. The starter rushed out Oh
the track to wave the checkered flag
which indicated that the driver had fin
Because Of this hitch Grants victory
remained clouded for several hours aftel
the conclusion of the contest. 1t was no
until after a stormy meeting at the Gar
den City Hotel between Mr.. Vanderbilt
and the officials that Grant was finally
confirmed as winner.
E. III. Parker, who was at the whee
of the Fiat. to which the timers had b,
their blunder awarded first position
throughout the twenty-first lap. demanded
a rigid investigation Of the scoring anC
timing methods.
For a while Parker threatened to fil'
an official protest on the ground that HI
had materially reduced his efforts dur
| ing the final minutes Of the contes
! through the mistaken impression that h,
/ had the race we'll in hand.
Three Events Confusing.
The early part OF the race was badly
muddled by the simultaneous running o.
two lesser contests for cars of moderat,
power These small cars remained OF
the course for ten and fifteen laps. re
spectively. passing and being passed b,
the big cars and making the task of th'
| timers a puzzling ono
| In the shorter Of these two races. tn,
lMassapequa sweepstakes. Joe Matson
driving a twenty y-fve-horsepOwer Chal
mets-Detroit, finished first. covering thu
1854 miles In = hours minutes anC
| 81 2-5 seconds. His average speed wal
slightly better than fifty-eight miles al
| hour.
| The fifteen-lap race for the Wheatley
| Hills cup was won by r. w. Harroun
| driving thirty-two-horsepower Mar
mon, who completed the 1896 miles pre-
scribed' in 3 hours 10 minutes and Il o.
seconds. His average speed was J9.t
miles an hour.
Star Performers Lose Out.
TIE two best known drivers entered il
the Vanderbilt cup race-Lewis Strang
plotting a Fiat, and Louis Chevrolet
driving a Buick-were among the first I,
be put out of the running by accident.
to their cars.
Strang came to grief before completing
his second lap. smashing his radiator
Chevrolet began well, rounding the 126-
mile circuit race in 3 minutes % seconds
but a broken cylinder forced him to qui
the race in the fifth lap
With these star performers eliminated
the contest for the next six laps 5ecam.
a struggle between the two Chalmers
Detroits, driven by William Knipper anC
l.. B. Lorimer The two alternated II
the lead until the thirteenth lap, wher
Lormers machine came to grief.
knipper. however, kept In front unit
we'll into the twentieth lap, when the
Alec overlook him. In the next round
knipper dropped back into third place.
CrNmTYpv Arrrn pErnpn