The Washington times., 1915-06-01
Negotiates 50O-MiIe Course At
indianapolis in Five Hours
and a Half.
AVERAGES 1884 MILES HOUR
Stutz, American Car, Finishes
Third and Fourth in Speed
Classic.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind, June Mud
bespattered tcfrists and speed fans who
sped homeward today congratulated the
Indianapolis motor speedway for pulling
off great international contest without
any casualties. All records were broken
and all bones were intact.
Expert racers agreed today that 1t
might be years before the record time
Of 5:S3:55.51, an average of 1884 miles
made by Ralph de Palma yesterday would
be bettered. They pointed out that for
300 miles the Italo-American driver
maintained an average of 90.21 miles an
hour, and that his speed steadily in
creased. He was robbed of ninety
mile. average only by the fact that he
stopped at the pits to change all four
tires. This precautionary act may have
been the deciding factor In the race.
Perfect driving by de Palma, all ele-
ment Of good fortune, plus Ideal weather
conditions. and a faultless engine made
this feat possible. Such combination
will be hard to find again. 1t was
Rario Resta, in French Peugot car.
finished second, and Gil Anderston, in
an American Stutz, was third.
Dario Resta contested every mile of
the way with the winner and the battle
of these two pilots was the feature OF
the contest. Resta never quit trying to
head off DE Palma and he finished only
four minutes after the winner crossed
the tape
Resta's time was hours 81 minutes
and 34.94 seconds. Anderson completed
the race in hours AZ minutes and 207
seconds.
Out of twenty-three cars that started
eleven finished, of which ten received
prize money.
That DE Palmas victory was a popu-
lar one was shown by the demonstra-
ton by the thousands of spectators who
rose and cheered wildly as the winner
finished his last lap. De falma drove
into his garage Immediately after he
received the checkered flag which an
nounced his victory and locked the
door. His first words were praise to
the, mechantcian who rode by his side
during the long. grind. Enthusiastic
garage and De Palma became the CEN
ter Of attraction for hundreds of people
who fought for chance to shake his
hands.
never was back of fourth place. lie
wrested the lead from Resta at the l15th
mile He lost the lead in the Sl5th mile,
when he stopped at the pits, but re-
gained it in the 335th when Resta
skidded into the retaining wall and was
forced to make tire change as the
result After that De Palma never was
headed although Resta pushed his car
to the limit.
De Paima's machine ran perfectly
until the beginning the 49Sth mile. when
1t showed signs of faltering. Spectators
feared that the car would fail him and
he would be robbed of victory, as he
was In 1912. when, with but two laps TO
go, his machine broke down and he lost
the prizes he had thought as good as
won a few minutes before.
'The ink Is broken" he exclaimed
when he was hailed as victor today.
This years race was the first held
here in which no person was injured.
Although the weather was threatening
and the race had been postponed from
Saturday a large crowd was on hand
to witness the event.
The track was ideal for high speed.
as it was chilly and tires lasted much
longer than Is usual on brick course.
The winner made two stops Tor tires
and fuel. Speedway officials said to-
night that the record probably Will
stand for years
There was disposition not to press
the charges that Resta used unfair tao
tics against de Palma and others. some
charges were made that he crowded de
Palma. but the new speed king would
make no such statement;
Ten drivers divide the 10000 prize
money, of which De Palma's share is
SEQ 900 They finished as follows:
First-Ralph De Palma-Mercedes
Second-Dario Resta-Peugeot
Third-Gil Anderson..Stutz.
Fourth-Earl Cooper-Stutz.
F'ifth-Tom O'Donnell-Dueserbe
Sixth-Bob Burman-Peugeot.
Scyenth-Howard WilcoX-Stut2.
Eighth-Tom Alley-Duesenberg
Ninth-Hughie Hughes-MaXwell
Tenth-Noel Van Baltz-Sunbeam.