Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-08-22
Winner Had Fierce Battle With
Anderson and Wishart
Nearly All the Way.
Finish of C.. A. c.. Race

Elgin, Ill, Aug. 22.-Ralph De Pal
ma, driving a German Mercedes, en-
tered by Z. c. Patterson, won the Chi
cago Automobile club trophy in the
first days contest of the Elgin road
races yesterday, traversing the 3O1
miles in 4:O5:O1.
De Palma was pushed all the way
by Gil Anderson in a Stutz, and but
for three minutes penalty for a lost
tire the American car would have won
the prize.
De Palma set a terrific pace for the
entire route, but his margin over An
derson was only A seconds. In win
ming, De Palma broke the course rec
ord for a lap and raised the race mark
of 71.5 miles, set by Anderson last
year, to 1916 miles an hour for the
.301 mile grind. The fastest lap of
the race was the second driven by
De Palma, who made the So miles in
eos, an average speed of S2.5 miles.
The battle between Wishart and De-
Palma settled down to a siege, with
the Mercer machine getting a few sec
onds lead on each lap. For 25 laps
Wishart and De Palma sped around
the So mile course, coming down the
hills with their machines apparently
several feet off the oiled road.
Neither of the veteran drivers
stopped until the fifteenth lap, when
De Palma halted at the pit for tire
and oil. Wishart rounded lap after
lap, the motors of his racer roaring
rhythmically until the nineteenth lap,
when he pulled up at the pit for gaso-
line.
That stop practically lost the race
for Wishart. In filling the gas tank,
the top was torn from it, and oil
splashed when the machine dashed
away. Four laps later, Wishart
stopped for gasoline again. Again the
gasoline spilled from the tank on the
rear. A minute later the crowd in the
grand stand saw clouds of smoke COM
ing from the back stretch two miles
away.
Then the announcer told the spec
tators that Wisart's car was afire. 1t
burned for several minutes. When
Wishart crossed the tape in front OF
the judges stand the Mercer was in
fifth place, having been passed by
De Palma, Anderson, milford in a
Peugeot and Barney Oldfield in |
STATE.
Wishart drove until the 9th lap, |
when he stopped at the pit, examined |
his gasoline tank, and then withdrew
his machine after leading for 200 |
miles.
The withdrawal of Wishart left the
race between Anderson and De Palma,
both drivers winners at the Elgh road
races last year. Both have driven In
all the big contests of America, and
De Palma has been a winner in sew
eral European contests. Anderson
last year set new record for the Ell
gin course. winning the Elgin national
trophy De Palma won the Chicago
club trophy last year.
From the 26th lap until the end of
the race it was only question of sec
onds who would win the race. Ander-
son was reported % seconds ahead at
the 27th lap.
De Palma's pit men flashed the Ital-
Ian driver his position every time he
passed the pit. First the figures showed
that he was leading by so seconds. The
next lap the placard sent the bulletin
to De Palma that he was running sec
ond, and was 40 seconds behind An
derson.
Now and then the pit men Judged
the time a bit on their driver. perhaps
with the intention of urging him bit
faster. But in the last three laps De
Palma had taken a minute lead on his
husky opponent, and by brilliant driv-
ing on the stretch and at the curves
managed to hold the lead to the end.
A mishap that took a fraction Of
minute might have changed the result
OF the race at that stage.