The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-10-10

they stood all elommlly like groves
of poplar mourning over "A battlefield
somewhere in northern France.
They saw at their left as they en-
tered the enclosure acres OF automO-
biles. packed chock-a .block--s,000 Of
them. Everard Thompson averred-and
wherever they glanced on the rim Of
h infield were more automobiles each
tucked head to track In its particular
niche. Nley passed under the shade
U the great grand stand. q quarter Of
a mile long. which holds $1,000 persons
In It's double decks. They Rlanced far
across the infield and saw the bleachsr
stand. which holds 5000. and they OBJ
served with lessening amusement that
the inield was TANNED al the turns
with spectators afoot. They np.ed the
careful preparatiUrs-the tiny hospital,
white painted with green shutters. where
the red cross CLEANED the ambulances
standing silently at every turn pa
tiently awaiting the arrival OF victims
OF the speed craze. And then they
scurried fer their seats In the well Or
dered sections ard aisies. where regi-
ments OF ushers and special policemen
were at viGilant attention.
The uproar grew crescendo from 10 A.
NJ. to noon. 1t was "a bedlam Of harsh
and insis;ent noise. Somewhere cars
were drumming and shrieking. each with
a different savage song, like tigers quar-
relling. Exhausts were banging. En-
gines were AGING Men were megaphon-
ing from track side TO stand and pit,
shouting ~raucously. insistently. Human
ears could not he closed to that Internal
clamor, to that nerve SCATTERING chorus
OF the racing men. Somewhere In the
hereafter. 1t may be, the nervous soul
will be consigned to a racing meet as
mete and fitting punishment for his evil
done on earth.
AT noon the heart OF the picture lay
at the Judges stand. squarely In front
Of the sprawling grand stand. Bombs
exploded DULY In the iniield sending alof;'
the silken tricolor of France and the
Stars and Stripes. flag wisps that drifted
with the hreeZ and CLEANED colurfully
I'm the perfect sunlight-for the day, II
1t has not Yet been said. was "A veritable
amethyst of a day. all bright and blue
and sparkling.
The bombs We're a preliminary signal
to the crowds. for a minute or two be-
fore noon, and after Harry :. Hardness.
president OF the Speedway association.
had whirled the course in his Peugeot.
the twenty cars entered for the race
were placed in alignment, file by file and
spreading across the 100 foot track,
which was as smooth and polished AS "A
bowling alley. AT the tick Of twelve the
cars lea ped forward. living. sensate
things they seemed. and began the heart
breaking struggle hat was to dethrone
old heroes and raise up new ones.
The details of the race from first 10
last are reviewed in another column.
Here let 1t be said that the eyes OF the
crowd fixed at once upon the lean and
wicked Peugeots. the slim and graceful
Peugeots, whose beautiful lines were the
lines of a racing yacht. a time destroying
motor boat Dark blue they were. ana
their drivers, from hooded heads to
booted feet. were in dark blue. and trim
and businesslike and relentless they
looked. Resta and Wilcox and Bob Bur
man and Ralph Milford and Johnny
Aitkcn.
Rc.ta Out IN Ia Lead.
out went Resta. a flying blur against
the stand walls. and they took his dust
for many Il long mile before trouble
lowered his banner. The Stutz cars,
four white, stubby, useful racers, grim
and implacable even In their white
enaT elling. next held the attention OF
the crowd because their definite posi-
bilities were known, They could do SO
much. and that was great. Let the
Peugcots overleap reason and StutS
would win. So Il proved. For the
rest there We're light blue Delages. a
green Sebring. the smoke gray Deusen-
berg. a gray Maxwell and "a black Max
well, ali with white numbers staringly
PAINTED, all in a desperate hurry tc
trail the lying Resta, Their troubles
came TO most Of them. as has beer
written, but even the luckless ones sur
yived for long enough to provide theii
share Of thrill and Interest.
As they swooped and scared along
the half mile level stretches and ROSE
t~riumphantly to the great banked turns
where the track canted in "A ~paraboli'
curve for half a mile at each end OF
! the two mile course, the air was fou