Los Angeles herald., 1909-10-10

against time that he announced If l
broke the worlds record for the dis
tance he would buy the finest cup in
Los Angeles. l made good on the rec
ord breaking, and he certainly made
good on the cup. 1t is my most cher
ished prize.
The next spectacular stunt in which
appeared was at the Altadena hill
climb, given under the auspices of the
Automobile Dealers association six
days later, February 2S. This was
speed contest rather than a hill CLIMB,
for 1 Just flew and bounced up, making
the greatest speed ever made IN the
world by any type of motive power over
a grade more than 10 per cent. My aY-
erage speed for the one and four-tenths
miles was sixty-three miles an hour
from a standing start, and my speed at
the first turn, 900 feet from the start,
was seVenty-one miles an hour. At this
point nv right handle bar broke off and
was compelled to negotiate the re-
mainder of the course, including a leap
at the railroad crossing, with one hand
to guide and the other on the gasoline
tank, When struck the track my ma
chine bounded into the air and covered
a distance by actual measurement or
sixty-eight feet before it landed. The
front wheel was headed right when we
struck the ground, and we were on our
way, at full speed, finishing the one
and four-tenths miles in 1:15, or twen-
ty-one seconds better than 1t has peen
done by such men as Oldfeld, SleterI,
Soules and many others in their high
powered automobiles.
Following the Altadena hill climb L
employed a manager and toured the
west as an exhibition rider, holding
meets wherever track could be found.
On this tour I succeeded in breaking
the track record on every track on
which [ rode and what is more, all of
these records still stand. At Hanford,
where I met the one girl who can make
me write letters for the pure love of 1t,
I broke the worlds record for half-mlle
track-setting the mark at 81 seconds,
which still stands. 1 did not turn the
corners on this track-I just Slid them.
This was on May l, 1908. on May q L
established a new road record from Co
alinga TO Hanford, making the fifty
three miles in sixty-three minutes, with
four stops to open ranch gates and one
for gasoline. The train time between
these points is one hour and forty min
utes, and the best automobile time is
two hours and five minutes.
After this stunt, on which much
money changed hands, 1 was held over
to do a five-mile daredevil ride at the
| Portuguese annual celebration in June.
After reeling off three miles the police
stopped me, declaring I was frightening
| the women to death. Five had tainted
in the grandstand and others were cry
ing to the officers to prevent me from
killing myself.
| Returning to Los Angeles 1 opened
| the Seal Gardens saucer track by clip
ping the five-mile eght-lap track rec
ord thirty-tive seconds. 1 left a sick
bed rather than disappoint the man
agement who had billed me, and rode
this race when was too weak to
stand.
Me- next race was planned to be one
of the greatest successes Of my life. l
had planned to make a cleanup in
both the professional and the amateur
ranks. My brother was to ride my ma
chimes in the amateur events and 1 was
to ride them against the professionals.
On September 9, in the morning, few
hours before the races, my brothers S
heart failed while he was at practice