Los Angeles herald., 1909-03-29

a figure that would have been a worlds
record had not the Locomobile crossed
first.
Murray Page, one of the most fin
ished, the most calculating and the
most heady drivers in this or any other
portion of the United States, sped the
Locomobile to victory, giving one of
the most consistent and cleanest ex-
hibitions of driving ever seen on this
! coast, at least.
Bert Latham, the junior of Page by
many years, and a local man, drove
the Stearns and captured the admira-
ton of all fair-minded spectators by
his splendid work at the wheel, giving
battle to the full extent of human ca
pacity when his car was threatened by
its successful opponent and holding it's
head up to it's desperate work with a
skill and a nerve that few amateurs,
and even professionals, could excel.
A Race for the Bards
It was race of which poets might
write and bards might sing. The en-
tire field of automobile industry has
never produced two cars that have
given so perfect a demonstration of the
speed and endurance capacity of the
Automobile experts genius, and it
would rack the brain of any spectator
at yesterdays race to conjure up the
name of any two cars whose name
plates are on the worlds markets who
could hope to go out and COVE so per-
feet an exhibition with such clean
scores.
And with the Locomobile crowned
the winner and the possessor of the
handsome trophy presented it by the
committee from the local lodge of Elks,
under whose auspices the race was run,
the fortunes of battle serve to place
that car on a pedestal as type of
speed and endurance superior to that
of any other contender until such a
contender has proven its ability in ac-
tual contest to go out and cut out such
terrific pace and finish with such per-
feet score. 1T is a triumph for the
American built automobile and it is a
triumph for the Locomobile which may
be jealously begrudged it in some
quarters, but which all fair-mindeq,
spodt-loving people. who witnessed the
race will be willing to concede it.
Stearns' Heroic Showing
And great as the victory was and
significant as it is to the Locomobile
makers, it is equally as much a victory
for the Stearns car that it was able to
make the heroic showing that it did
against so formidable an opponent, fin
ishing, it is calculated, but twenty two
seconds slower than the Locomobile, if
actual time lost in the unfortunate stop
that the tSearns was compelled to make
for oil and gasoline is deducted from
the time that the Locomobile finished
ahead of her. Twenty-Five seconds in
100 miles, driven in worlds record time,
is a great victory for the winning car
and it is great victory for the losing
car, presenting, incidentally, that ele-
ment of doubt, because of it's narrow
margin which is so essential to future
contests between these two cars.
One Scar of Race
The one scar on the entire race was
the result of a misunderstanding on
the part of the Stearns managers, who
ientered the race without oil and gaso-
line tank equipment, compelling the
Stearns to stop at the end of the
eightieth mile to take on new supply
of these very important essentials. The
LocOmobile was equipped with extra
capacity tanks for both oil and gaso-
line and was never compelled to stop
during the entire race. . The Stearns
people gamely swallowed the disad-
vantage under which this absence of
extra oil and gasoline placed them and
waved away any suggestion of a pro-