The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1909-08-21
Sporting Ne1Us
STRANG FLASHES
TO THE FRONT IN
100 MILE EVENT
CAR WAS NEVER CHECKED DUR
ING LONG GRIND AND PEERLESS
NOUNGSTER NEVER TOOK HIS
RIVALS DUST.

Indianapolis. August 20-Strang and
Zengel shared the honors of the second
day of the automobile racing meet on
the new Indianapolis speedway. the for
mer winning the fastest 100-mile race ever
held in this country. while the latter es-
tablished a new 10-mile record. Not a
single accident of a serious nature married
the days racing, and it was a welcome
relief from the tragedies of yesterday
The only accident of the day was a
bruised arm sustained by Barney oldfeld
in the 1O-mile free-for-all race. in which
Zengel made his record.
A crowd Of about 1900 spectators
crowded the two big stands and hundreds
of automobiles filled every inch of the
desirable sparkling place.
The feature of the day was the easy
victory of Strang, who drove a Buick in
the 1OO-mile race. the star event of the
day. strang led all the way from the
start and won by about 10 miles in the
exceptional time of 1:32:4S $40.
Strang's Remarkable Race.
Strangs time was more than minutes
better than the 100-mile track record
made by Burman at New Orleans on
July 3 of this year. Burman's record
was made on one-me track.
Dewitt in a Buick finished second to
Strang In the long race in Ia: 30 $40, and
Stillman in Marmon was third in
1:42:37 Clio. Harroun in a Marmon was the
only other of the seven starters to finish,
the Buick (Chevrolet), Marion (Monson).
and Marion (Stutz) dropping out early in
the race.
Strang never stopped once during the
100 miles, his car working like carefully
adjusted piece of delicate mechanism. His
pace was uniform throughout and the
speedy car continued to reel off lap after
lap and mile after mile with remarkable
uniformity. He increased his lead all
the way, and never once was he forced to
take a rivals dust.
The Other Events.
Before Strang started on his wonderful
race the honors had gone to zengel who
established a new 10-mile record in his
Chadwick This was the second time in
the meet that this record has been
broken. Chevrolet reduced Oldfields old
mark of 9:12 So yesterday when he won
a 1O-mile race in $50 4-10. and Zengel
for-all today.
Aitken, in a National. who finished
second in that event. also had the honor
of breaking Chevrolet's old mark as his
time was 1872 clio.
The 50-mile race was practically a walk
away for Wright and schwitzer in the
Stoddard- Dayton cars They were the
only drivers to finish out of the five start
ers. Wright won easily, taking the lead
after the 10-mile mark was passed and
holding it to the end. Schwitzer was lead
ing at the end of the first 10 miles but
dropped back to third when both Dewitt,
in Buick, and Wright passed him. De-
witt dropped out when his sparkling ap-
paratus refused to work and Schwitzer
moved into second place. Ryall in a Buick
was Tapped early in the struggle and
dropped out after a futile effort to make
up the lost ground. Merritt in a Velie
dropped out after going 10 miles.
The five-mile free-for-all handicap was
Inc most ClOSely contested TdGt VI Tue
day and resulted in a victory for Merz
who drove a National, and his teammate
Aitl<in, finished one-tenth of a second
behind him, according to the electrical
scoring machine. Aitken really made the
better time as his handicap was 10 Sec
onds. while Merz received an allowance
of % seconds. Miller, in Stoddard-Day-
ton, with a 3O-seconds handicap, was
third. Thirteen cars faced the starter ir-
this event They were divided into four
classes according to the handicaps.
Thrilling Finish Made.
It was a scramble from the pistol crack
to the finish. Miller, the blonde giant of
the standardization camp, piloted his
car into the lead at the start and held
that position until the second lap was
started. 1t took the two Nationals some
time to overtake the earlier starters but
they were soon fighting for the lead,
wheel to wheel. Down the long home
stretch the two cas- Numbered with
hardly an inch separating their grimy
hnubs. Merz was able to keep his ad-
vantage until they crossed the tape.
The 10-mie race for machines which
will compete in the 3OO-mile race tomor-
row resulted in another victory for the
National. This time it was Aitken who
piloted the car to victory in the credit
able time of 1925 6-1c.
Hubert Lyttle broke into the limelight
for the first time during the meet when
he finished second in his Apperson nearly
10 seconds behind Aitken. Milford, in a
Lozier, was third
The trials for a new record were dis
appointing as Walter Christies freak
racer, of which much had been expected
refused to show any speed, and Christie
finally gave up in disgust after being I'M
able to get the ralkish machine around
the track once in a warming up
Oldfeld carried off the honors of the
trials as he covered the mile in :43 2-10
which is one-tenth of a second slower
than his record made yesterday. Ralph
DePalma, holder of the former mile rec
ord of 81. drove his Fiat Cyclone over