Los Angeles herald., 1910-01-10

With the index finger of his right
hand broken, unswathed but heaVlly
painted with iodine, and suferlng NJ
tense pain from the injury, when VIZ. was
caused by cranking his machine
day, Barney Oldfield, king OF all Gu, Gu
cular track drivers, yesterday aLleI-
noon tried--and tried very haruIto
break the worlds record for one 1nlle' %
held by the great De Palma, VINO
gained it in the Fiat Cyclone; but De
Palma today still holds tnat ilutn itii
coveted mark and probaply VIII uila,i LIZ
Barney, who made two attempts go
terday. finds some other track JuoI
rieht at the moment when he may feel
his time has come to claim the laarh
which he, and every great racing driver,
looks forward with eager ana lohSlns
, eyes. ,..,., of+ar
When Ben Kerscher, who LOOKS aile5
Barneys big 120-horse power pei, liz liz
of confidence the big Fellow puIeu
away from the pits on one OF the nlose
DANGEROUS trips any automoplle oh
earth can make.
Time Is Just 81 Seconds
Ascot mark is not the best place in
the world to make a mile in less tnall
f4tv seconds, and yet that is WhaC
must be done to beat the time Oh the
Fiat cyclone made by De Palma. but
Oldfield shot the monster machlne lilto
the turns, the heavy wheels ploWlhg ~
great burrows of earth and dust, hot-
Wjtbstanding the track had not peeh
scraped and worked on for days. Tear
ing down the back stretch at an so
mile-an-hour gait, it was hoped by tne
excited spectators the record WoUlu
come to the big fellow, who has peen
doing such marvellous work on the
tracks for the last few months. Thlr-
teen seconds at the quarter, however,
indicated the track was too Slow 26
at the half proved it, and as it is com
pulsory at the final turn to release
slightly the pressure of the foot on the
throttle it was seen his attempt TO
smash the record would not be sue
cessful, although Oldtield crossed the
tape in So seconds fiat, failing by l To
seconds to lower the flag of De Palma
but breaking all Pacific coast records
on a circular track.
Undaunted by this failure, Oldheld
started once more to make another at
tempt, although his injured finger was
making him vince with pain, ana as
this is the finger used most in driving,
especially when a powerful car like the
Benz is grinding on the steering wheel,
the big fellow was game as ever, Tor
Oldfield covets the mile record more
than all elseain the world.
Fails in Second Attempt
Avav he shot again, and in his first
lap warming the car to her work, the
feeling generally prevailed that with
but a little track assistance he would
make it this time, but when the mile
had been covered Oldfeld had simply
met his former mile with the same old
50 to his credit, and this was enough,
for the track would not at that moment
warrant better than the car and driver
was doing.
The next event was by that general
good and popular fellow in whom the
public has been so generally interested,
Ben Kerscher-knoWn better the coun-
try over as the wild Dutchman-in his
French freak, the Darracq, and Ben
was to go against the mile record, too.
With the5ump and lunge for which the
car is noted she shot into the track
from the pits, emitting great volumes
of smoke, and after two laps Ben gave
the high sign to the starter, came
down the stretch at terrific clip and
made the mile in "a seconds fiat.
No 8 on the program was the 25-mile
record attempt, with Barney at the
wheel of the Benz, in which he hoped
to take away another record. To beat
the present record Oldfield had to make
an average of better than SO 9-5 Sec
onds for each mile. With perfect ease
and confidence, the track king reeled
off the miles inside of the necessary
time, making miles in less than the So
mark and keeping well ahead of the
record, and came within a second and a
fraction in the first five miles of beat
ing the record for that distance.
In the tenth mile he had the prize
well within his grasp and was still add