The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-05-31
RECORDS SMASHED
At INDIANAPOLIS
Harroun in M3rmon Wins 30
Mile Event
OLDFIELD DOES STUNTS
Harroun and kirscher Have Narrow
Escapes, Formers Car Going to
Pieces-Summary of
the Races
oLDFIELD DOES STUNTS

set for the national championships in
stock car classes which will be contested
for annually; Barney Oldfield, with his
Benz car, broke the American speedway
| records for the mile and the kilometer
and Ray Harroun, driving a Marmon, cut
the time for 90 miles for cars of 231 to 300
cubic inches piston displacement.
A crowd of 5000 people cheered the
drivers on to desperate feats of speed,
and the companies of militia on guard
were pressed hard in controlling the ca.
ger spectators who overlooked the grand
stands into the fields, straining for
nearer view of the drivers of the motors.
Oldfeld cut the mile speed record down
from So fiat to 1856, and the kilometer rec
ord from 23.7 to 21.4 He had made the
former records on the Los Angeles track.
In wonderfully sustained dash
throughout the 50-mle race Harroun east
ly led his rivals and was ahead of the
record at 30 and 40 miles and the finish
His time was 42:4 The former record.
which was 4A4S, Harroun himself had set
In Atlanta.
Caleb Bragg, the Cincinnati amateur,
was the third star of the day He won,
had to put up hard fight for each of
them with Kirscher in Darracq.
In the National championships the
drivers battled with all their skill. fore
ing their engines to the limit Of their
power The leaders always punched in
the home stretch and the contests were
not decided until the front wheels of the
victors had actually crossed the wire of
! the time machine. L. Chevrolet in a
| Buick winning the ISL to $50 champion
| ship for ten miles set the record down
| to 9:0S from 9:46, and Dawson, in a Mar
mon car. wrested from Harroun the VIC
tory in the 2s1 to 800 class for five miles.
He put a new mark at 4:4 up, seven sec
onds better than the old time.
| Oldfeld with a Knox car, won both the
| Ave and ten-mile championships in the 4o1
to 600 class, which includes the highest
powered cars recognized under the stock
racing rules.
| Leading all the way. Oldfeld cut down
the record for five miles from 4:03 to 4:0l.
Harroun's Narrow Escape
| The honor of setting for next years
aaspirants the championship record of mo-
tors for ten miles in the 301 to $50 class
went to Aitken In National car, who
pulled down the time from sos to 1863.
Only two accidents marred the days
sport, and in neither of them was any one
injured, though Harroun had the narrow
est escape from death that he had ex-
perienced in all his days of racing.
His Marmon was the ralxish marvel with
which he SO brilliantly won the 2C0-mile
| CT r1axr q a
hurled itself on the cement wall that
guards the upper margin of the track.
| Sliding along the top of the wall the
car tore furrow in the cement for %
feet and then toppled over, fiing1ng Har-
roun from his seat. He picked himself
up uninjured. but his car was a snarl OF
steel 1t was only partially consolida-
ton of his first machine and others and
can be duplicated. A consolidation came
| In his winning the trophy and check
for $780, which he won in the 200-mile
| race.
The second accident of the day occurred
| in the fve-mie free-for-all, when
Kirscher's Darracq cast high in the air
one of it's front tires. summoning all his
| strength the driver held his careening,
fyinR car true to the tracks path and
finally turned 1t Off to the inner field and
stopped it safely In the sand. summary:
Summary of Events
| T0n-mil0 1r6e-IOT-d riot,
won: Kincaid, National second; Grei-
ner. National, third. Time. 1918.
Ten-mile race for cars 161 to 230
cubic inches Observation-Disclosures.
Buick. won; Burman, Buick, second;
F'reyer, Firestone, third. Time, 9:03.6:
This was the first of the national cham
pionship races.
Fiye-mile championship for cars of
231 to 800 inches piston displacement
Dawson, Marmon, won; Harroun. Mar
mon. second; Anderson Marmon, third.
Time. 4:41.s. New record; former rec
ord was 4:4S.
Five-mile free for all-Bragg Flat,
won; Kirscher. Darracq, second; Ait
ken. National, third. Time, >S:34.9.
| In flying finish Harroun. in
Marmon, snatched the victory in the
ten-mile championship for cars of 231
| to 400 inches displacement. Dawson,
Marinon. second; Clark, Cutting, third.
Time. 1888.
Barney Oldfield in Knox led all the
distance in the championship fve-mile
race for the big cars of 451 to 600
| inche s displacement and broke the rec
ord in 4:01.3. The old time was 4:43.
Aitken, National, second; Kincaid, Ma
tional, third.
| Aitken In a National took first honors
in the fve-mile championship for cars
of 3o1 to 400 displacement. Kincaid.
National, second, METZ, NdtioHdls t0lru.
Time, 4.06.7
KiIometer Record Broken
| Oldfield In his 200 Benz broke the
worlds speedway record for the kilo-
meter. His time was 21.45. Former rec
| ord, 2S7, which Oldfeld set at Los
Angeles. He also broke the record for
the mile for the Indianapolis speed
way His time was :37.l The worlds
record is SO flat.
Reed, driving Stoddard- Dayton. won
the five-mile free-for-all handicap, 81
seconds Tousey, National. 81 seconds.
second Aitken. National, 81 seconds
third. Time, 1885.
Ten-mile championship for cars of
451 to 900 inches displacement--Old-
field, Knox, won; Merz, National, sec
ond; Kincaid National, third Time.
7:50.75.
Ten-mile championship for cars of
3O1 to $50 inches discplacement-Ait-
ken. National, won; Kincaid National
second Merz. National, third. Time,
1911. New record; former record, sos
made by Kincaid last Saturday.
Trying again for the American speed
way record for the mile Barney Old
field in his powerful Benz broke the
record making the distance in 1856.
The former record, 1922, which Old
f1eld in the same car made at Los Ange-
les last winter. 4
Harroun in a Marmon won the So
mile race for cars Of 23l to 800 dis
placement lowering the record. His
time was 42:41.6. Harroun held the for
mer record. 44:4s.s6. Dawson, Mar