The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1909-08-18
DARING AUTO EXPLOIT
How W. K. Vanderbilt, Jr., Saved
His Life While Speeding.
WANTED TO BREAK RECORD.

Air on Long Island Motor Parkway.
Alone in a big 100 horsepower racing
automobile, running ninety miles an
hour on the Long Island motor park
way, Willie K. Vanderbilt, Jr., re-
Gently performed an almost unbeliev-
able feat Of good driving and cool
courage that saved him from being
crushed to death In the most danger
u sort Of accident.
Ever since he has been operating
high powered machines, a matter Of
ten or twelve years, young Mr.. Van
derbilt has enjoyed a title among ex-
perts which the public has seldom
heard. They call him, and mean it,
"the best racing driver In America"
Various spectacular exploits Of the
hairbreadth sort made his reputation.
But none Of his feats quite equals his
latest one
Mr.. Vanderbilt drove from his home
at Lakeville to the race course, which
he helped to found, In his new $4,000
Renault machine.
Started Out For q Record.
When he got upon the concrete sur
face of the parkway, over which part
Of the Vanderbilt cup race of last
year was run, the idea occurred to
him to go after the record Of the
course Recently one of the profess
sional drivers covered the twelve miles
of concerted roads in eight minutes
fat. The young millionaire sportsman
thought he could beat this with his
new car.
He sent the Renault, under wraps"
n fast lap in a trifie over ten min
utes, taking the time by a stop watch
fastened to his steering wheel. Then
he opened up a little more and made
a second lap in a shade above nine
minutes. The third lap was the one
he really intended to be the record
breaker. There was no other car on
the course, and conditions We're per-
feet for a wonderful speed test.
With a fast flying start at Westbury,
Mr.. Vanderbiltshoved his gas and spark
controls wide open, and the big racer
leaped ahead with a roar of explosions.
1t doomed across the little wooden
bridges that carry the course over the
public highways and racketed through
the cutouts where 1t runs on the level
at seventy, eighty and then ninety miles
an hour, with the daring driver hold
ing it steady to the center of the TWEEN
ty foot road.
The Renault shot past the big grand
stand, skidded around a right hand
curve into the next to the last straight
away stretch of the twelve miles and
plunged forward toward Central park
away ahead Of the record. 1t seemed
likely that Mr.. Vanderbilt would cover
the course in a good many seconds less
than eight minutes, which means trav-
cling more than ninety miles an hour.
In Peril When Crank Pin Broke.
But in the Central park stretch the
universal joint broke. That is the
mechanism that transfers the power
from the crank shaft under the four
big cylinders to the driving shaft that
runs to the rear axle. The universal
joint in a Renault is directly under
the little iron seat upon which the
driver sits.
With tremendous force the big steel
mechanism, released from the crank
shaft, plunged upward and struck
against the iron seat. 1t had almost
the impetus Of a cannon ball. The
blow flung Mr.. Vanderbilt upward and
forward. First his breast struck against
the steering wheel; then he shot head
first out yer the cars sloping hood.
BY what seemed like a miracle he
managed to grab the wheel again as
he shot high over it, and for an instant
all his weight was upon n hand, like
an acrobat posing on a bar with his
feet aloft. AS his body turned and
his feet struck the sloping hood he still
chung with the one hand to the wheel.
He had turned almost a complete SOM
ersault and hadn't been shaken off.
When the joint broke, no more
power, Of course, was sent to the rear
The plunging Of the loose shaft had
half locked the wheels, too, greatly re-
ducing the speed. But 1t was still
going fast enough to be death dealing.
Kept His Presence Of Mind.
While Mr.. Vanderbilt chung to the
wheel, the car turned suddenly from
the center Of the road to one side and
began to climb a steep embankment.
It was as good as certain that If it
ever got halfway up it would turn
over upon its side and perhaps bury
tho driver beneath its great bulk.
But he didn't let it. With another re-
markable contortion he managed to
grasp the emergency brake. He
damned 1t fast and brought the big
gray racer to a stop with its blunt nose
only a few feet up the embankment.
One lamp was smashed, but the ex-
ternal machine was not otherwise
wrecked.
Mr.. Vanderbilt found that he wasn't
at all injured, so he walked to the
nearest telephone and called up a
/ - ~ (n No., VorIv L. $3.50. ---.--