The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1915-06-03
THE FINISH.


Indianapolis, June Ralph De.
Palma, driving one of the most spec
tacular races ever seen on any Amer
lean automobile track, won the fifth
annual revival of the International
Sweepstakes, 500-mile race at Indian
apolis when he drove his Mercedes
to victory over the classiest field
which ever has been seen in the race.
In winning the race, DePalma
clipped more than half an hour off
the old record, going the. route in
5:33: $3.50, an average of 1884 miles
an hour. The old record was
SOB: $3.50, an average OF S2.47 miles
an hour made year ago by Rene
Thomas in Delage.
Dario Resta Second.
Close behind DePalma came Dario
Resta. winner of the Vanderbilt and
Grand Prix races this year. Less
than three laps separated these two
Italian rivals and the duel between
them had been in progress all DAY.
1t was DePalma's greater experience
and better racing brain that told the
story.
DePalma virtually ran Resta to
death on two occasions, once when he
was striving to regain lost lead and
the other when Resta was trying to do
the same thing. On both occasions
DePalmo jockeyed with his Anglicized
compatriot and on both occasions he
made Resta overstep the bounds of
safety for himself.
Stutz Cars Follow In.
America had to be content with
third and fourth places, Gil Anderson
taking third with Stutz, while Earl
Cooper took fourth with another Stutz.
The Hoosier machines made a valiant
showing but they could not speed up
quite fast enough to catch the flying
German and French cars. The Stutz
entries set the pace for the first hun.
dred miles Of the classic, but then
they had shot their bolt and never
again seriously threatened to take the
lead away from DePalma and Resta.
New Record Expected.
That there would be new record.
no one doubted from the time the
men had passed the 50-mile mark.
Anderson. who was leading at this
point. was Keeling off the miles in rec
ord time, and when he relinquished
the lead, DePalma and Resta took up
the work with will.
Every car was in line when Presi-
dent Carl G. Fisher led the procession
around for the start. The machines
were lined up four abreast across the
track and when Starter Tom Hay gave
the flag Wilcox in his Stutz was in
the lead with Resta in the Peugeot
and Ralph DePalma in the Mercedes
third. The start was perfect, the best
ever obtained for the event. The
cars went over the wire in perfect
line, for the most part, only a few
inches apart
Dario Resta took the lead at the end
Of the first lap, but on the second
Howdy Wilcox brought the intensely
rartisan Indianapolis crowd to its feet
by going by the Englishman in a
brush on the backstretch. Wilcox
lived up to the expectations of those
followers of the race by setting a
terrific pace from the start. Resta
challenged him. but DePalma dyed up
to his promise by letting the Ameri-
can force the pace.
Hit Nlnety-MiIe Clip.
The first lap was run in 1889, an
average better than ninety miles an
hour.
Three cars we're forced out of the
race before the leaders had gone one
fifth of the distance. The Purcell,
driven by Cox, had been experiencing
considerable engine trouble through
out the race and after 1t had been
tagged down for consultation with
the drivers. the officials decided to
withdraw it. The Mails. driven by
John Mais, in the meanwhile had been
disqualified by F. E. Edwards, chair.
man of the technical committee, for
running OF the track