Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-09-05
COOPER WINS BY
SECONDS MARGIN
Los Angeles Driver Takes Prize in
Sensational Finish at Fort
Smelling.
ANDERSON IS RIGHT BEHIND HIM


FORT SMELLING, Mimi, Sept. 4-In
one Of the most spectacular and closest
finishes ever witnessed at the end OF a
5oO-mile race. Earl Cooper OF Los Angeles
today won the first motor derby over the
new Twin City speedway. Cooper was less
than one second ahead of his teammate.
! On Anderson OF Indianapolis. who fin
ished second The official time of the
two cars was; Cooper. 5:47 20: Anderson.
5;4I:@. CoOper's average speed for the
race was S6.s5 miles per hour
Eddie O'Donnell, who was more than
thirty miles behind the leaders, finished
third.
ia NJ Three Hundred Miles.
Cooper led at 800 miles. with his team
mate, Anderson. h second - .Anu,r-
son took the lead at sO1 miles, when
Cooper stopped for gasoline. Cooper and
Anderson had twelve miles lead on
ODonnell, in third place. Coopers aver
age for this distance was sS2s miles an
hour.
At $50 miles-one-half the distance
Anderson was in first place, closely fol-
lowed by Cooper. o'Donnen was third
and Alley fourth. Only nine OF the four
teen cars that started remained in the
race.
Anderson averaged Ss.2S miles an hour
for the $50 miles.
De Palma was forced out Of the race
by engine trouble after driving 1sl miles
Several hours before noon, the time
set for the start OF the first 6OU-mi e auto
mobile race on the new Smelling speed
way, situated midway between Minneapo-
lis and St Paul, thousands of spectators
were In the standard eager 10 see fif-
teen racing cars flash around the two
mile oval in contest for prizes aggregat-
ing $4,000
All save two OF the drivers had qualified
their cars by circling the course at a
speed OF at least eighty miles an hour. but
speedway officials announced that these
two drivers oldfield and Brown. would
be permitted to participate without the
usual preliminary test. 81
Fast Time Predicted.
Drivers and mechanicians agreed that the
track was in excellent condition and pre-
dicted that some records would fall Be
cause Of his showing in the Chicago
races and in the elimination trials here,
Resta will be in the race today.
Weather conditions were favorable.
Such stars as Ralph De Palma, winner
at indianapolis: Dario Resta, victor at
Chicago. and many other tracks, this
season; Barney Oldfield, Eddie o'Don-
nell, Bob Burman and many other were
expected to christen the new two-mlle
concrete course in competition for the
purse of $4,000.
The track. sixty feet wide most of the
distance. and eighty feet wide on the
4.
be one of the fastest in the country.
They even predicted that 100 miles an
hour will be made.
Resta's long record OF victories this
year places him high among the IA
vorites today. In the preliminary trials
he pushed his French car over the
course in record time.
Earl Cooper. who won one race and
was second In the other at the Elgln
races recently. is another favorite as
also Is GIL Anderson, who carried off
the Elgin road race honors two years
ago, and again this year captured the
Elgin national trophy and the prize
money in. the second days event at
Elgin.
Records OF other Races.
The highest speed at which a motor
car ever Travelled is 1929 miles an hour,
and was made by Arthur Duray at
Ostend, Belgium. in 1913.
The worlds straight-away mile record
OF 14173 miles an hour was made by
Bob Burman at Daytona-ormand In 1911.
The Brooklands two-mile record of 1859
miles an hour was made by Chessange
In 1914.
The Chicago speedway two-mile lap,
record or ll1.5 miles an hour was made
by Barney Oldfield in exhibition in 1915
The Indianapolis speedway two-and-a-
half-mile lap record OF S9S5 miles an hour
was made by George BOlllott In quail
flying trial In 1914
The Chicago 5oo-mile record OF S7.e miles
an hour was made by Dario Resta In
June. 1915
The Indianapolis 6o0-miie record OF 1874
miles an hour was made by Ralph De
Palma In 1915
The American road racing record, 3O1.S1
miles. or SIS miles an hour, was made
by Eddie Pullem at Corona in 1914.
The American dirt track two-mile rec
ord OF III miles an hour was made by
Louis Disbrow at St. Louis In 1914.
list, OF STARTERS