Los Angeles herald., 1909-02-28
.STEARNS RACE
LOOKS GLOOMY
L0C0M0BILE'S PROPOSAL IS
TURNED DOWN
INSIST LEAVITT AGREED TO A
SHORTER RACE
Latter Says He Was on d Sickhed
When Race Talk Was Sprung
and That High Fever
Was Raging

| E.. There is so much disparity between
the positions taken by the local agen-
| cies of the Locomobile and Stearns cars
that it is quite likely the race proposed
in these columns last week, to be run
! between these cars, will fail to ma
| terialize, but with honors apparently
resting with the Locomobile people.
| Ralph j. Leavitt, head of the Los
Angeles Motor Car company, the local
agent for the LOcomobile, proposed last
| week that the Stearns meet his offer Of
a wager of $4,000 or upward to race the
| StearnS car for 500 miles over any kind
! of a road or track that the Stearns
| agency should select, the race to be
held under the auspices of the dealers
association, at a time when Leavitt
should become stronger from the effects
OF his recent illness, it to be under
stood that no professional should drive
| either car.
To this proposal, when called to the
I attention of Manager Gordon of the
| Stearns agency, the nothing stirring
| answer was made
Gordon's Conditions
Gordon asserts that Leavitt promised.
| at the time of the auto show, to meet
! the Stearns in a 1OO-mile race at Ascot
sisted that Leavitt come through with
/ his agreement He likewise fatty re-
FUSED to race the LOcOmObile for 500
miles, to put up a wager of $4,000, or
anything more than $1,000; refused to
permit the dealers association to su-
| pervise the race; insists that Soules,
the Stearns driver be allowed to race
, his car, and asserts that he wants
! race that will attract spectators be-
! tore whom he may defeat the Locomo-
! PIE IN an afternoons racing, and not
/ New York to Paris race Gordon
! stated, however, that when Leavitt,
! with the LOcomobile, keeps the promise
which he says was made at the time
! of the auto show and race him for 100
| miles for $1,000, he will consider" the
/ proposal for a 500-mile race for $1,000 or
! upward. He charges Leavitt with hav-
/ ing some factory money behind him.
| and asserts that he has none of the
! Stearns money to wager, but merely
! his own.
Leavitt Denies Agreement
! Leavitt, when told of the Stearns an
/ sWer, asserted that at the time of the
! auto show he was confronted with the
race proposal from the Stearns agency
| while he was fiat on his back, suffering
| from relapse from typhoid fever,
! which had followed his premature eff
fort to leave the hospital. He was un-
I
had fever ranging around 101 degrees.
! His nurse had communicated the
| Stearns proposal to him while in this
! condition. and he had instructed her to
| say that he was in no condition to talk
q race then, but that when he was well
| again he would be willing to give the
| Stearns people all the racing they
wanted. This was the only time he
! ever agreed to enter into any kind of a
race, he says, and these instructions
were telephoned to the Locomobile
| booth at the auto show.
/ Leavitt further asserts that the
| Stearns people we're told at that time
by w. J. Orr, a factory machinist who
was in attendance at the show booth,
| that they need not go beyond the ma
chine show of the LOcomobile garage to
get a $1,000 bet, as he would back the
LocomObile with his own money for the
amount named, but that Orr's proffer
| was not taken up by the Stearns.
Since his return to the Los Angeles
| Motor Car companys office Leavitt
says that he has heard the race talk
made by the Stearns people and framed
his proposal of a week ago with an
idea of giving them 'all the race they
wanted"
Wants Test, Not Race
''I am not talking race just for the
sake of having a race" said Leavftt
had a good deal to say about running
their car against the Locomobile, and
I have made them proposition that I
believe is reasonable and fair. I claim
that the Stearns car cannot do 500 miles
under racing speed, and that they are
merely looking for a short race, and
not a real test of the speed or en-
durance qualities of the two cars in
actual competition. That is the only
reason I have said anything-to give
them a chance to prove that they have
as good a car as the Locomobile for
speed and endurance. I am wagering
my own money when talk $5000-not
any company's money. If the Stearns
want any more than $4,000. then L will
cover that, but not with any company
money, but that of a few LOcomobile
owners in this city who are willing to
back their own judgment with their
own money.
Will Drive His Own Car
"The Stearns people are in the racing
game; I'm in the automobile business.
I'll agree to drive my own car the en-
tire distance, to show that 1t does not
take a professional to run the Locomo-
bile 500 miles. If I put a $4,000 car
into a race of this kind want to wager
as much money as / risk if am going
to bet. A car may go through a fence
or meet with an accident that would
destroy it, and won't take any sucn
risk for $1,000.
IF they have the car they claim they
have they have a splendid chance to
prove it in 500 miles. We can start
and finish the race in daylight at AS
cot park, if they want to race there,
and we can get all the crowd we want.
"TII race them for $4,000 and 500 miles.
if they really want to race, but they
have got to come in under conditions
that will test the cars. I don't want
any race just to divide the gate re-
ceipts."
And there the matter stands.