Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-16
STEARNS
MACHINE
CRIPPLED
Broken Clutch Stops Car
at 1O9th Mile
ORR DRIVES TO VICTORY AT
STEADY PACE
FORMER MAYORS MOTOR TAKES
PLACE OF STARTER
r. j. Leavitt Consents to Substitution,
but Change Is Made Too
Late to Affect the
Result
wv ITH little BILLY" Orr at the

"A
w wheel for r. J. Leavitt the
W Locomobilo won the $4,000
stake race over a 30O-mile course at
Ascot park over the Stearns machine,
with c. P. Soules as pilot. yesterday.
The time at the finish was hours
AZ minutes and seconds.
broken clutch at the one hundred
and ninth mile stopped the Stearns,
then six miles in the lead. For d time
il looked as though the Locomobile
would finish alone. Finally, former
Mayor Henry T. Hazard came to the
rescue with his car. 1t was quickly
dismantled and pressed into the race
and finished 243 miles just as the Loco
mobile crossed the tape at the 3OO-mile
mark with the wager to the owners
credit.
The big crowd at Ascot had nothing
but praise for Slaughter, the game
agent Of the Stearns, and nothing put
conmendation for Leavitt, who refused
to make any objection to the finish IN
the Hazard car after he found that his
opponent's racing machine was out OF
business for good.
Ideal Day for Race
An ideal morning for an automoplle
track race, a band playing fascinating
music, a grand stand croWdeo WIN
! gayly dressed and handsome women
| some with escorts, many without;
| race track with groups of young anu
| active men with piles of rubber tlfes
| about them; another aggregation OK
hard-muscled, skilled mechanics, arms
! haired to shoulders, with an assortment
of fine tools sufficient to start first
! class repair shop on Gasoline row.
| two monster six-hcrsepoWer autoino-
| biles stripped of every vestage or trlhl-
! mings, mud guards, lamps and ton
! neaus: lot of badges marked judge,
starter. timer clerk and announcer, and
! orJ- f- r,fPtnTp1 it was seen
at 10 o'clock Sunday morning.
The occasion was the fighting out OIL
q controversy that had grown almost
to personalities between the repre-
sentatives of two well known ana
ropular cars as to which car possessed
the greater staying qualities and was
capable of producing the greatest
Wagers were laid by the CON
testants to the extent of $4,000 each, the
$4,000 placed in the hands of Eddle
Maier of the Maier Brewing company
as stakeholder and Sunday, August 10,
named as the date for the settlement
of the controversy for good
Biq Crowd Sees Contest
Intense interest was taken in the
outcome of the event. for at the start
ing hour the grand stand OF ASCOT PARK
was filled with fully 5000 people TO
which additions were made as the race
continued.
+be I,ocomobile, fouwhich r. j. Leavltt
is the agent. and the Stearns, repre-
sented by G. c. Slaughter. c. Z. Soules,
one of the best known racing drivers
in the country, called the 'old WdI
horse" in automobile circles cool
calculating, fearless driver, was select
ed 10 piIot the Stearns. while numer-
ous persons were named to drive the
T.ocomobile but at the last moment
little Billy Orr, for eleven years con
nected with the factory of the Loco
mobile machines, turned up as the man
who would drive the big car Oh
promptly at TO- the hour named for
the start. the big cars lined up at the
starting point in front of the Judge
stand, and when the report OF the pls
tol held in the starters hands nau
echoed in the grand stand the pulllhs'
snorting monsters, prepared fof Tue
fray as are battleships, were on Inc
Stearns got away cleanly and into the
hirh gear almost instantly, the Loco
mobile hanging fire for an instant ana
it looked as though Orr had 1orgotten
where mis- clutches were, but ne was
away at slower speed thah tllo Iloa' S'
car, which set pace that soon car
ried Soules and his car into the lead
safely and Cleanly.
SouIes Sets Face
When it is shown that The Stearns
made the first five miles in 1:l5 eacn
and SouIes then settled down to l:0S
clin for three consecutive miles more
and 1904 for the fifth mile, 1t Will be
seen that Soules had set for hlmselt a
consistent pace. without the knowledge
of what his competitor would 40
though knowing the Locomoblle was
dangerous machine on a racing track.
orr apparently paid no attention as
his rival came up and passed him twice
within the first five laps of the course.
C,oollv setting his throttle at lib to
III gait he varied but little from
This Soules continued to increase his
advantage. at the five mile lead of his
car over the Locomobile settling down
to keeping lust ahead of his adVer-
sarv and blowing the dust of the track
into the eyes of Orr and his mechani-
clan.
AS though there to take this. Orr con-
tinued on his steady gait, varying but
little from his original pace. On the
forty-seventh mile he got the l:OS marx,
his fastest mark. but he never APP
preached that speed again until IN the
two hundreds he touched the 110 mark
two or three times.
With monotonous grind the cars
made the mile circuit until the Stearns,
i'm the forty-first mile lost tire by
bursted inner tube, which cost min
nae and ffty-six seconds of precious
time. but Soules was cheered loudly as
his car took tho track again. In the
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