The searchlight. [volume] (Culbertson, Mont.) 1902-current, 1909-06-25
won BY A BUICK
In . Hair Raising Finish q Buick
Automobile Wins the
Big Race.


tomobiles made. Donaldson Bros.
Of Culbertson are agents for the
Buick cars, and have already sold
a number in this vicinity:
Crown Point, Ind, June 49,
A Buick, 4o-horse power, driven
by Louis Chevrolet, won the Cobe
cup, the major event Of the
.Westere Vanderbilt" race over
the 395. IS miles OF Crown Point
Lowell course today, by the hair
raising margin Of I minute and S
seconds. Bourque, in Knox, who
was second, made a desperate race,
SO desperate that not until the
wining machine flashed over the
tape was the result at all certain.
Owing to the fact that Chevrolet
was the 10th entrant In a field Of
II, and that Bourque crowded so
perceptibly close to him in the
final laps, the Knox Car, No. on
the list, was the first to pass the
tape, his time being 8: o2: A.. At
this time Chevrolet was somewhere
near the beginning OF the long
stretch, with eight minutes in
which to secure the prize. AS he
flashed by the station along this
part of the course the news of his
location, transmitted by wire to
the judges stand, wrought up the
watchers to a climax of enthusiasm.
The intense anxiety regarding
the movements to the last foot,
and the likely sense OF possibility
of a disaster involved by a multi
tude OF rough experiences charac-
terized the day. chevrolet's total
distance was 3o5 IS miles; average
time 4o. a6 miles an hour: fastest
lap, 23:a2, by Dennison, with
Knox. The following table shows
the records of the first FIVE cars
and order OF finish:
Buick, Chevrolet, 8: OIL: 50.
Knox, Rouque, 8: o2: "A.
Lccomobile, Robertson, 8:I4:3o
Fiat, Hearne. 8: az: o..
Stoddard DAYTON, Englebeck. s:
a6: o5.
In the nth Chevrolet broke a
valve in a cylinder in such a man.
ner that 1t 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 remarkable. To offset
this misfortune, in a measure. the
superior skill with which he and
his mechanican handled the oil
cans during a stop at the repair
ing pits, gained hun the time OF
immense value later IN the day.
The race which showed an aver.
age Of 4y.76 miles an hour. was
unusually SLOW for cars Of the 60
horse power class. The fact that
the roadway at the turns was lit
teraliy cut TO ribbons by the almost
continuous performance Of the tive
DAYS racing slowed down the
heavy motors to most unexpected
degree and upset all calculations.
The most conspicuous feature of
today's race from 4 technical point
OF view was the wonderful
and consistent performance OF
Chevrolet. From the start his
average scarcely varied I8 seconds,
Dennison being put out of the
running. Robertson. at the wheel
of locomobile, took up the task
Of beating the leading Buick and,
after running a close second for
three laps, jumped INTO the lea1 in
the tenth and held it twice around
again. Seeing Chevrolet worn
down and all but vanquished by
the terrific pace he had set himself,
his assistant At the repair pit re-
Peatedly signalled him TO give up,
but he declined and. summoning
all his strength, changed INTO the
lead in the fourteenth lap and was
never thereafter headed.