The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1911-02-17
NOTEDDRIVERHAS
A CHARMEDLIFE
Lewis Srang in Spill After Spill, ButAways Has Come
Out With Only Few Scratches.

Lewis Strang, the famous racing
driver, has had many thrilling escapes
from death during his career as an au-
tOmobile pilot.
He appears to lead a charmed life.
Strang has been in spill after SPILL but
has always come out with nothing
worse than a couple of scratches. He
is thoroughly in love with the racing
game and his views on the subject are
of more than passing interest. Com
menting on his narrow escapes, Strang
recently said:
IF you ask any racing driver If he
has had any narrow escapes, the
chances are he will laugh and say no.
But corner him and pin him down, and
you will find he has had them by the
dozen, for what he will term a narrow
escape would seem like the worst kind
of an accident to a spectator. When a
machine skids and turns half way
around. possibly tearing off a couple OF
tires, 1t is laughed at and forgotten In
a second.
But Not All Are Such.
The only accidents that stick in the
memory of a driver are those which to-
tally disable a car or when some one
is killed or fatally injured Such little
things as skidding from the road out
into the field on a turn is forgotten a
second after it happens.
AT ElkwoOd Park, in 1906, in a mid
summer meet, went through the fence
on the inside of the track, wrecking the
machine
In 1907 went through the fence at
the Parkway turn in the Brighton
Beach twenty-four hour race. This was
probably the most fatal accident that
has ever occurred in any race. There
were about eighteen people badly in
Jured and five killed outright. The car
was in the middle Of the track about
3 o'clock in the morning. when the left
front wheel collapsed. The machine
swerved around, turned through the
fence, breaking up the heavy race track
fence as If 1t were so much matchwood,
then charged directly through a large
crowd of spectators, tire men, repair
men, and race track employees.
No Blame to Driver.
"At the coroner's inquest there was alb
solutely no blame attached to the driver
of the car, as the car was beyond con-
troll Immediately the front wheel COL
lapsed, and it was just luck for me that
1t did not roll over and kill me. About
two hours after this accident the repair
crew had put the machine back into
running order again, replacing the
broken radiator, front springs and
aXles, and l continued in the race and
finished, but the loss of time had been
so great that l was not able to get bet
ter than fifth position.
In the following twenty-four-hour
race on this same track there were a
string of kites sent up, possibly eight
or ten kites, which carried aloft a wire
cable to which was hung some large
advertising signs. The wind dying
down about o'clock in the afternoon,
the cable looped down until 1t hung
across the track. This cable caught
me in the throat, and I was thrown
from the seat of my machine.
Something Else Happens.
while training for the Vanderbilt
Cup race the same year and riding
around the course with Walter Chris
tie in the Christie car, something hap
pened to Christie's steering gear. The
car swerved in straight stretch, while
going about eight-five miles an hour,
ran full speed, full tilt, head on into a
telegraph pole, breaking the pole and
splintering the entire machine, and
was only cut in the calf of my leg and
my front teeth smashed in.