Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1912-09-16
MANAGER DERKUM
DEFENDS SAUCER"
Declares Tragedy in Which
Eight Were Killed Shows Mo-
tordrome's Safety.
Continued from First Page,

Continued from First Page.)
itself dropped back of itself to the
track without going over the fence
1 shall give the evidence proving
that a little later on.
A to the cause of the accident
It must, of course. remain a mystery
although personally | am certain that
Eddie was taken with heart trouble
or something else that acted like a
cramp, stiffened his muscles an6
made him helpless.
MY own brother met his death or
a dirt track in the same way. He
became rigid. Staring blankly ahead
he rode along a straight stretch
failed to make the turn and went
through the fence. His doctor aft
erward told me it was heart trouble.
That is what happened to Eddie,
I don't know whether it was fright
or heart trouble, or brain trouble or
eye trouble hat brought on the at
tack.
IF anything had happened to the
machine, such as a fiat tire, he could
never have mounted the ~perpendicu-
lar section. His machine would have
been thrown from underneath him.
IF he had weakened or tainted for
an instant he could not have gone
up. | know, because I've tried 1t.
This is the only track in the coun-
try that has the safeguard of such
a perpendicular section. Seymour
and l have ridden on 1t, but 1t has
taken all our strength to keep up
on it.
Says Hasha Was Rigid.
mo rider who was conscious could
have had the nerve to do what Hasha
did, and Hasha could not have done
it if he had not been rigid.
Now I'll tell you why the track is
safe. 1t was designed from the ex-
p%erience of every other track in the
country. Jack Prince and / built the
first motorcycle track in the world.
Later we constructed the one that
stands next to this in Newark.
nc make the track safe was the
great problem. Accidents had to be
prevented, yet without injuring the
riders.
Then the owner of the track hit
dPoIi iio lbNtl VI II pei oCC-
ton above the deadline. Engineers
figured it out that it would be i'm
possible on a track 1920 feet around
to ride around on this perpendicular
section at less than 100 or 140 miles
an hour, 1t would be possible to
keep on q very small perpendicular
track. but not on such a big one as
this.
Feature Is successful.
This feature, which Is to be found
only at the Motordrome, has proved
successful. Riders have been thrown
down, but not one has been badly
hurt.
THE perpendicular section is 3 feet
s inches high. Above 1t is a fence of
wire mesh 3 feet high. No motor
cycle can break through this.
Now, what happened on that Sun
day afternoon? Hasha was at the
bottom of the track near the pole.
There was no crowding. / have al
ways prevented hal by grading my
riders and allowing only a few In each
heat. That, too, is different from the
procedure at other tracks, where, as
nee at Los Angeles. there were
tw~enty-nine riders in a race.
Not rowde on Track.
"Hasha was twenty-five feet be-
hind Seymour. He vas not trying
to pass MIN A rider does not try
to pass another unless he is within
three or four feet of the man ahead
The speed is something so tremen-
dous that Hasha could not possibly
have been ready to pass Seymour
for two laps. So he wasn't crowded
Off the track.
Neither, as has been suggested,
did he make a sudden burst of speed,
the centrifugal force carrying him
upward. When he was at the pole
he was going the limit of his motor.
The speed could be increased only
slowly with the momentum.
But make a turn he certainly did.
Just as he did so he became rigid
and went right up the track.
1T look place in about eighty feet
altogether. When he struck the
fence the machine, jolting from post
to post, loosened his viselike grip
The enormous centrifugal force sent
him over the fence, because, at the
angle of the machine, he was above
the top.
Killed by Pedal.
'The machine was below. Those
who were killed were struck by the
pedal, which was broken off. Tho
fence held and the machine could moi
maintain its position. 1t fell back
to the track.
1.-The course of the wheel is plainl,
traceable on the wire and it does no
run off at the top. There is abso
lutely nothing to show that the cycl
went inside.
IF it had, the woodwork of the seat
would have been smashed. Their
would have been marks of the re
enamel, just as there were on tn
fence and track. Furthermore, tn
motor urnu1d hnVe certainly bpen in