Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-05-31
AUTO SPEED DEMONS
SMASH OLD RECORDS
OIdfieId Lowers the American
Speedway Marks for Both
Mile and KiI0meter.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, May 31.-In
slashing races at the Indianapolis speed
| way yesterday new records were set for
the national championships in stock car
classes. to be contested annually. Barney
Oldfield with Benz broke the American
speedway records for the mile and the
kilometer, and Ray Harroun, driving a
Marmon, topped the time for fifty miles
| for cars of 231 and 800 cubic inches dis
| placement.
An enormous crowd cheered the driv-
! ers on to desperate feats Of speed, and
companies Of militia were pressed hard
to control the eager spectators. who
| overfowed the grandstands onto the field,
straining for a near view of the drivers.
| Oldfleld cut the mile speed record down
| from SO to 1916 seconds, and the kilo-
! meter record from 23.7 to 21.45. He made
the former records on the Los Angeles
| track.
IN a wonderfully sustained dash
throughout the fifty-mile race Harroun
easily led his rivals. He was ahead of
the record at thirty and forty miles and
the finish. His time was 42.41. The
former record. which was 44.4s, Harroun
himself had set at Atlanta.
Caleb Bragg, a Cincinnati amateur,
with a Fiat. was the third star of the
days triumphs. He won two ten-mile
races and one five-mile free-for-all race,
and had to put UP hard fight for each
of them with Kirscher, in q Darracq.
Finishes Were Sensational.
For the national championships the
drivers raced with all their skill. forcing
their engines to the limit of power. The
leaders We're always punched in TIE home
stretch. and the contests were not de-
~
tors actually crossed the wire of the tim
ing machine.
The entries were somewhat reduced in
number by the strict decisions of the
technical committee of the American
Automobile Association. which insisted
that every car that did not absolutely
comply with the measurements in the
various classes should be barred.
L. Chevrolet. in Buick. winning the
1e1 to 2S0 cylinder displacement cham
down to 9.o3 from 9.46. and Dawson
(MaT1non). wrestling from Harroun
the victory in the 231 to 500 class for
five miles. made a new mark at AL,
seven seconds better than the old time.
Oldteld, with a Knox, won the five and
the ten mile championships in the 451
to 600 class. which included the high
est powered cars recognized under the
stock car racing rules. Leading all
the way, Oldfield cut down the record
for five miles from 4.O3 to 4.O1.
The honor for setting for next years
aspirants the championship record for
ten miles in the sol to 450 class went
to Aitken (NationaD, who pulled down
the time from sos to 7.52.
Two Accidents Mar Sport.
Only two accidents marred the days
sport. and in neither Of them was any
one injured. though Harroun had the
narrowest escape from death that he
had experienced in all his days Of rae
ing. A Marmon Wasp" with which
he had so brilliantly won the 200-mile
race Saturday. burst a tire and hurled
itself against cement wall that guards
the upper margin of the track Slid
ing along the top of the WALL the car
tore a furrow in the cement for fifty
feet and then toppled over. f1inging
Harroun from his seat. He got up un-
hurt, but the Wasp was snarl OF
steel. 1t was only partial consolation
for his loss when F. II. Wheeler. vice
president Of the Speedway Company.
leading him before the thronged grand
stands, gave him the ten-thousand-dollar
silver trophy and check for $1,OOO,
which he won in the 20O-mile race.
The second accident of the day oc-
Cured in the five-mile free-for-all, in
which Kirscher's Darracq cast high in
the air one of it's front tires. Sum-
moning all his strength, the driver
held his careening car true to the track.
and finally turned it off to the inner
relx in