Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-03

| of superiority until this meet. In
| Europe there has been as much discus
| sion regarding the respective merits
of the German Benz and the Italian
| Fiat as in this country, and the cable
grams from Los Angeles telling of the
result of the match between De Palma
and Oldfleld will be awaited abroad by
thousands of persons, including rulers
and court officials as we'll as others.
Anybody who wants thrills and sem
sation can get lots of 1t at the motor
drome meet, but I am confident that
there will be enough of this without the
haunting dread of q terrible accident.
The actual construction of the motor
drome had its inception in an earnest
desira to avaid the fatalities which
have occurred, and the trials of the
new track have convinced the drivers
that IL will go far toward accom-
plishing this much desired aim"
Ralph De Palma's sensational work
on the motordrome track has resulted
in bringing many persons out several
times during the week to watch the
practice spurts While De Palma has
avoided letting his big Flats out to
their limit he has gone around the
track in every conceivable manner that
might occur in actual racing. and
making 1t at the rate of 40 to AZ sec
onds for a mile, which, he says, us
good enough time at that"
It Is not unusual to see De Palma slow
down and allow two or three cars to
bunch ahead of him. or a sudden the
Fiat seems to double it's speed and just
when the spectators hold their breaths
waiting for the collision, De Palma
slips through and is laundering around
the circle as far ahead as he was be-
hind.
Occasionally he will crop down to the
freeboard near the racing pits or on
the dirt track with the lower wheels,
and a quarter Of a mile further his
car will be up almost against the guard
rail. This demonstrates the exciting
nature of a motordrome race and brings
cheers from the people in the grand
stand.
Although De Palma and the other
professionals pay more attention to
learning the track than to getting speed
limits, which they know will come i'll
the races, there is one driver who is
determined to see how fast his car can
travel That Is Caleb Bragg, who Is
an amateur on the register Of the A.
A. A.. and who runs his car for the
lovo of the game
Bragg likes speed, and he has been
wiping lots of 1t up during the first
week the motordrome has been avail
able for trials. He has steadily ap-
preached the mark or 1OO miles an nours
making unheard OF time for track work.
It is impossible to get Bragg to talk
about his achievements, for he is ex-
tremeIy modest and does not need ad-
vertising. That he is enthusiastic over
the motordrome is evident in the man
ner in which he hurries out every aft
ernoon. He is expert in tuning up
big car, as in fact a man who drives
at ninety miles an hour or better
must be.
Among the entries last week were
several small cars which are expected
to furnish a contest no less interesting
than that between the monsters. The
Isotta volturette. which will be driven
by Marquis, makes an interesting ap-
pearance on the pie pan" track, and
its speed in contrast to its diminutive
size surprises the grandstand. The
little Buick has already made remark
able time In Nikrent's tryouts, and the
Hupmobile and other small cars have
developed a speed that would have
been declared impossible before the COM
pletion of the motordrome.
In the motordrome meet the cars will
be more evenly matched than has been
the case In automobile races in Los
Angeles, which is immensely more
to the spectators.