Arizona republican., 1911-08-31
GRIM. l. DEATH WAS ON GUARD Two Aut0ists Have Harrow
 ing Experience ACCIDENT CAUSED DELAY
Tetzlaff, Dare Devil Driver, and Lawrence, Newspa- per man, Have Touch and Go Experience in Trip Across Desert.

Teddy Tetzlaff. accompanied by Chester Lawrence. automobile editor or the Los Angeles Examiner. arrived Tn Phoenix yesterday morning after one of the most narrowing experiences on the desert that has ever been re- corded by a driver of a motor car. The couple came through from Los Angeles in the powerful Fiat racing car, the same that will compete for the honors fin the Los Angeles to Phoenix race next November. for the Republican cup, cash purses and other prizes
 From battle with the desert crouth in the northern part of Mexi- co to night walk of twenty miles in Arizona, because of too much wa ter, the trip of the first racing car over the new course of the race is one of interest
 The couple left NIexicaIi Monday noon for Yuma, following the picked trail to Cocopah and thence south toward Volcano lake The heat in this country was intense and it was all Tetzlaff could do to handle the wheel of the big machine in the heat. About forty miles from Cocopah the Fiat hit 9 culvert and plunged into a deep sand hole and stuck. The riders were off the car in q jiffy and at work lacking up the machine to get out of the predica- ment- After about five minutes work both Tetzlaff and Lawrence were overcome with the heat and were barely able to crawl under the car to the only available shade. Tetzlaff dragged the canteen with him to find that there was barely a cup full of water left Two hours of work finally got the car out of the hole. A ride of thirty miles to the head of the ditch in the Colorado river brought them to water AL though the water was thick with mud. it was eagerly drunk by the half dead autoists. Yuma was reached late at night.
 The Fiat team left Yuma Monday morning at S o'clock. They reached Caliente at o'clock, where the thermometer registered 11S in the shade. Within fifteen miles of Ar lington the couple ran into a real Arizona cloudburst and when endea- voring to leap a ditch filled with water were nearly drowned before climbing the four-fOot bank Tetz- laff was thrown clear from the car and landed in the middle of the wa ter. The Fiat was making about seventy miles an hour when they bit tho Jf+cb L-,ov-ipo i+ v,-ae in, possible for them tO get the car out Of the hole Tetzlaff and Lawrence started to walk to Arlington, with only their canteen. They were met at Arlington by Maggion Felicha, of Touriona, Italy, Tetzlaffs mechanic, who had driven from Phoenix in an automobile expecting trouble, when the car was late getting into Phoe- nix. Wednesday morning MaggiOn's car and several horses were driven to the scene of the accident and the car was hauled out. When the party arrived at the car in the morning it was almost entirely submerged with water and Tetzlaff had doubts that the car would run. He cranked the motor and was surprised to find tha; it ran without the least trouble. dCs- pite the night in the ditch.
 T would rather get spilled out of racing car on a track going al ninety miles an hour than to g0 through the experiences of this trip again" said Tetzlaff last night. 'The road should be marked so that drivers will not get lost during practice, or during the race. The roads them selves are in very bad condition.
 Tn all my five years experience in an automobile in the vicinity of Goldfield, I have never seen roughel roads.
 Tt would not surprise me if sev- eral men lost their lives during this race"
 Tetzlaff is one of the most noted of automobile racing pilots He is the holder of the American road race record of an average of 1929 miles per hour. He holds the worlds speedway records of 9. 90. 75 and 100 miles. and won the 1910 Santa Monico road race with a LoZier. His car will be the only foreign mount in the desert race. The Fiat held up wonderfully on it's initial trip to this city and despite the terrific speed maintained on the desert shows no bad effects whatever.