Arizona republican., 1909-03-04
AMERICAN DRIVERS
 AS GOOD AS FOREIGN
George Salzman, the We'll Known
 Driver, Gives His Opinion.

New York. Feb. 2S.-(SpeciaI Cor
 respondence of The Republican.)- .)-In
 a recent interview with George Salz-
 man, the well known and famous
 racing driver, he was asked:
 Do you believe the American drivers
 are as capable as foreign drivers?"
 -1 would say, most emphatically,
 yes. Look up the records of any race
 and you will find that the American drivers have just as much nerve, good Judgment and all the qualifications
 that make good driver; but, unfor- ttunately, in the special racing car traces, their cars lack preparation. Consequently, their failure to win. I
 will take the liberty of stating right here that within the next few years you will see our American drivers
 shine, just the same as the Americans ldo- in other branches of sport Take
 our stock car races for example; >you will find that American stock cars with American drivers have shown absolutely that American stock cars
 are superior in many respects to the 1 foreign cars especially in an endur- I ance contest where extremely bad | road conditions are to be met-as
 for example, in the great New York l to Paris race where an American car, the Thomas Flyer defeated a field of five of the best foreign cars built, in a race around the world
 and beat the nearest competitor by
 six weeks and three days-allowing
 that foreign cars and drivers hold |
 practically all high speed records: of course, that is accomplished by |
 specially built racing cars which most |
 foreign concerns have specialized and |
 eXperimented on for years, whereby | they are able to attain the highest | speed possible. American manufac-
 turers, up to date. have not had the | time to devote along Rscing lines. as they have been too busy designing and building regular touring cars.
 T believe that all racing should be done with absolutely straight stock cars just as they are turned over to the buying public. This would not only go to prove the best car manu- factured. but would develop the au- tomobile as used every day to a point of perfection. These freak racing cars do not show anything other than terrific speed. After a race is over, they are shelved until the next spe- cial event. and as no sane man would care to drive them through our city streets, what good are they? I firmly believe the day for special racing cars is over, or will be soon-espe- cially in America.
 To prove the real value of an auto mobile from a prospective buyers standpoint, the cross country run is certainly very strenuous feat in more ways than one. For example. take thei Buffalo Pittsburg to Philadelphia rec ord run. distance of 556 miles This I consider the hardest run possible, taking the mileage into consideration. of any record in this country. Any stock automobile making this run in side of 21 hours elapsed time and without any mechanical troubles what soever. can be considered as a mar vicious achievement, when we take into that there are more than 20.0O0 thank you mam's." three moun- tain ranges, with the toughest roads imaginable; in fact. the worst condi- tions possible to wreck an automobile
 T also believe that a trans-con- -inental race would surely prove the weak points of a good many cars and the winner would surely be a wonderful car-providing that no re- pairs or mechanical adjustments are allowed. I firmly believe that in the event of the car breaking down so that it cannot proceed under it's own power, it should be compelled to withdraw from any event of this kind, as the allowing of repairs or not only deceives the buying public, but also prevents the car with the least mechanical trouble pr replacements from receiving the proper amount of credit which is due it.
 My opinion is that short traclt races do not prove very much from a buyers standpoint: rwenty-four hour racing. without a doubt, shows the endurance of an auto to perfection. However, I have known of races Where the car that had the least mechanical trouble and the greatest speed did not win the race, as tires are a very big fac tor in a race of this kind. It only takes a blow out on a sharp curve and the car goes through the fence, the chances for first place are gone. So after all the cross race or record run is the most valuable to the buying public as then conditions are met with ex- actly such as every auto owner comes in contact with entOur.
 'I firmly believe that in the very near future practically all contests |. will be run along these lines. OF :, course, there will be other racing, i, but the auto owner and prospective . purchaser will watch the cross -coun- try race for real valuable informa- -ion.''
 Tom Johnson on Makinq CIoaks Dear