New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-12-29
Big Advance in
Automobile Lines

Dot, &C IN industry and from the p'i'.'
~ v,ew Of sport, automobiling maui ~,
advances during 1872. Nearly every -,
,o'r,, actively engaged in produclhs
,,o.5o increases over the previous
IL. while there were fewer races
,tan during 1911. the figures for la
..,.,,bor of standard distances were mo
LII, brought down. Stock car T"c."5
,,.a, almost eclpsed in the favor eSle''usu
a., machines OF special design Out Ut W.
Go. cortoets catering to the acc'p'e"
-. 80 oors they succeeded IN betteilhS
the records. - - ,uto-
American factory production Oh 80, -
mobiles in 1912 was approHiihd.1S .,
oars ms compared with the g"'Y ' Va, ~ -,
,,,t IN 1911 and the output OF Ho'Vo d"
100 Tho average value Of the nac"''
,,roIuced I'm 1912 was probably lower ina"
T., on. rrevlous year. due to the aaNahC-
H. r,ruIarity of the small car anu
,o,,.orine of prices on the makes oil mo-
chino appeaIing to the largest inarheO
In Tho wear lust ended it became poSslD'e
for tho first time TO buy runanout %
standard make at 500. High priced cars
COO found 4 receptive market but there
o,,carsd q general tendency TO acquire
cars for two. four and five pdSS'"7
rather than the seven passenger Hp1' ~
popular a few years aS@.
In the line of racing the so-caleu
classic coutcsts-the Vanderbilt cup tne
Grand Prize and the Indianapolis Speeu-
wav-were revived. but with the eNcep-
,ion Of the last named the conditions
u,are not Of "A kind 10 arouse entnusi-
asm. Milwaukee acquired the TWO ro""
contests and conducted them over
course that proved unfit for hlgn speeu
work as well as dangerous TO tine par
ucipants. David Bruce-BrOwn. the pre-
milo. American road driver, met hiS
d.,th and his mechanic died few days
l,ter due 10 an accident in practice
while in the Grand Prize race Ralph He
p,lrn.,'s ear was in collision with the
one driven by caleb Bragg and seil-
Gus accident resulted, de rama Oo'N7
laid up for weeks.
The Vanderbilt cup race, 299ls miles,
was won by de Palma with Mercedes
r. from Hughes, driving Mercer
Third place was awarded 20 Nisnart
also handling a Mercedes. The honoIs
of the Grand Prize. 4O9al miles, fell 10
Caleb Bragg. who drove a Flat Benz
driven by Bergdou was second. ana An
derson's stutz dropped into third place
In the 50o-mile race on the Indianapolis
Speedway de Palma gained big leau
and app,arod o certain winner u"ul TWO
miles from the finish. when a broken
riston rod forced him 10 retire. TIE
victory fell to a National car driven Dy
Joe Dawson: Tetzlans Fiat finished sec
oud and Hughess Mercer third The
French Grand PrN. ga6ie miles, was
won bv Boilots Pougueot from Nas-
nor's Fiat iu two days race.
During 1912 there was no racing on me
famous Florida beach. and the Woi'd
records for s,raisrtaway running renl'.-"
AS they were twelve months ago. In ''e
free-for-al class Bragg Fiat made rec
ords AT three four and five miles on the
Los Angeles speedway, the times beng
respectively l:54A3. 2:53.& and SIl1o. or
the Intermediate records mace In the ool-
mile race. Tctzlaff gets those for 100, 3d..
40 and 80 miles. while Dawson, tine
eventual winner Is awarded records at
900 80. 400 $50 and 80 miles.
Circular dirt track records were nearly
all wired out during the year. The mile
figures were reduced to U41.S5 by Burman $
rgitZeu Benz at Brighton Beach. and old
hcld's Christie car made two miles az
Cleveland I'm 1853. Disbrow vino had
a remarkable year with the Simplex
Zip" created new figures for three