Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-03-09
A. L. BENNET TELLS .
WHY ABBOTT-DETROIT
QUITS RACING GAME,


Referring to the recent action of the
Abbott Detroit Motor Car Company
in giving up the racing in which Its
ears met with such a decided success
wherever entered, A. L. Bennett, OF
Detroit. district sales manager for the
company, made the following state
ment when in this city:
we came under the censure of the
A. A. A. because we advertised, truth
fully and without exaggeration, the
performances of our stock care in the
Vanderbilt and Grand Prize races. This
led to a reconsideration of this entire
racing question on the part of u
firm here and the factory at Detroit,
as a result Of which we have decided
to withdraw entirely from racing while
such rules are enforced.
such virtues as may be urged for
racing can certainly only hold r IL
the racing is with stock cars. Fol in
stance, 1t Is argued the tremendous
strain to which racing puts q a gives
the maker an accurate idea of the de-
fects and weak points in his product.
This is true, but only when he is rae
ing with a strictly stock a car this
yield him knowledge. by which he may
improve his product. Again, 1t is
urged that racing gives the public an
opportunity to compare the perform
ances OF the various cars when they
are under fire. But from the highly
spectacular performance of specially
built racers Of enormous horsepower,
what oan you judge of the totally diff
ferent car you buy off the s~alesroonl
floor? The only similarity between
them is that both were assembled in
the am factory, sometimes not even
that. I have in mind a car selling at a
low price which for the last two or
three years has had a very successful
racing team in the field. I had occa-
sion recently TO look over the engine
and transmission of one of these rae
ers.
They bore very little resemblance
to those in the cars ordinarily sold by
this firm. In this 8 of hasty gen.
ordinations il is TO the highest degree
misleading to advertise In foot high
letters that The X. Car Has Just Won
the Most. Gruelling Race Ever Held
when the fact of the case is that a
specially and deliberately constructed
car, costing several thousands of dol
lars, Which happened to be built by
the company, won it.
Spectacular racing in cars of enor-
nous horse power may have had some
for being when the industry
was still in the tentative stage. 1t
attracted attention to what was then
a now Thjnos and tho F,,roro .,5 -
sation helped focus attention on the
automobile and possibly even stifnu-
lated trade. But taking in considera-
ton the digntffed, conceded position
the automobile industry has now made
for itself, it surely no longer stands in
need OF circus methods to help it's
natural growth. AS bearing on this
point ] would point out that at the
automobile shows of some years back
freak racing cars We're a prominent
and crowd collecting feature.
''These have in the last two years
been conspicuously absent, both from
American and European shows. This
shows a healthy reaction from the in
terest in cars of abnormal style and
power and O concentration Of effort on
sane, normal stock models. 1t is a sig
cd ~ hotb shau-s thiS 90 M
qomer ronre- oonaforto H. % anu
~cellan+ fran, neohonieai . - OK.
h in past years, when part of the
makers interest and factory
were centred on the building of special
racers capable of enormous speed rec
ords.
1T has always seemed to me thar
al. ~C NhoS