Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-26

Dutchman led the Benz for much of the
distance and kept the big fellow with
his Benz pumping the throttle to keep
pace with the little short-coupled thing
that would be despised by the ragman
as he wandered around the alleys look
ing for old junk. Mile after mile the
cars hurled space to atoms, with rec
ords of "a seconds, and maintained the
average for the five miles of So seconds,
the Benz making a grand squirt at the
close of the last mile and winding up
the affair with n record OF 4:35, and
established the fastest five-mile record
ever made on any track In the world
for a competition contest against time.
productions in 1909, California increased
There is no doubt but what the
Dutchman had his mettle up and was
after giving the Boss" the trip Of his
life, and Barney plainly showed that
| the Darracq was leading him a merry
chase.
The next number on the program
was a five-mile open race between the
Corbin, Maxwell and Buick. Scarcely
had the contest begun when the little
faVorite white streak threw a wheel
at the last turn and was out of COM
mission, the Corbin and Maxwell con-
tinuing the course alone, with the
Maxwell showing that something was
the matter with her clutch, and she
did not round into line until well into
the contest, but too late to recover
the lead of Livingstone with the Cor
bin, which was running at this time
perfectly. The event was closed with
the Corbin in the lead with 5:16 2-5 to
her credit and the Maxwell with 5:27.
one Of the tightest and closest
events of the day was the handicap
with the big Knox racer owned by
Oldfeld, the Corbin and the Darracq.
The Corbin was allowed a handicap
of twenty-five seconds, the Knox,
driven by Oldheld, ten seconds and the
Darracq with Kerscher at the wheel
at the scratch. The Corbin got away
nicely and made the best running
showing the little car has made since
she has been in the racing game. Her
driver kept her well in hand and led
Barney Oldfield a hot lead up until
the very last notch. Barney was
timed out five seconds ahead of his
time and for this reason it is stated
that the Corbin will protest this race.
As it was, the big car crossed the line
but a nose ahead of Livingstone, who
had driven a perfect race. TWo-fifths
was all that Barney had on the Cor
bin with that five seconds lead. But
il was ConclusiVely shown that the
Darracq, as The Herald has always
claimed, is the fastest car in the
world, barring none, Of whatever make
they choose to put against her, re-
gardless of other claims. Oldheld
himself knows this to be a fact, and
Barney can still add time to her in
improvements he can place in her
makeup, and he has unquestionably
the greatest racing car the world ever
knew, and it is no discredit to Oldfeld
to say that in the Dutch Kerscher
he has one Of the greatest automobile
racing drivers in the world, too. He
pays as much attention to runts and
holes in the track going at a :54 clip
as though he was sleeping in a feath-
er bed. Bouncing on his seat like a
cork i'm the ocean he plows into the
course and makes the most vicious
turns, hugging the pole like a monkey
after cocoanuts. The time of the big
six Knox in this event was 4:27 2-5,
as against the COrbin's 4:49 2-5, the
Darracq closing up the gap made by
the handicap, which would have been
fully covered in another mile
The second heat between the Benz
and Darracq was slower than the first,
but nevertheless just as intensely in
teresting to the audience, the time of
the Benz being 4:53 As, with the Dar-
racq close at the heels of the big fell
low.
The injury TO the Buick, which is
always a faVorite on the track, kept
her out of the last event, which was
the twenty y-fiye-mie run, leaving the
contest between the Corbin and Max
well, and which the Maxwell captured
with the following score at each five
mile end: For the first five the Max
well made the distance in 5:32 3-5, the
second five in l1:04 4-5, the third five
in 1859 SIS, the fourth five in 22:19 1-5,
and the entire twenty-five miles in 28
minutes, which demonstrates one thing,
that hereafter the smack and clean lit
tie red Maxwell must be reckoned with
by local cars and that Clarence Smith,
who handles the car, is there with the
goods when people least suspected that
he had the driving stuff in him.
1t was upon the whole the most sue
cessful meet ever pulled off at Ascot
park, and for that matter, on the Pa
cific coast. There was again demon
strated the wisdom of sharp. short,