The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-06-10
Automobile News

That a man who goes abroad these days to sell motor trucks and car Tier a, motor truck along as a sample has to be a, diplomat, as well as a salesman, is revealed by the letters which Charles P. Cary is sending back to Detroit from London and from Paris. For days he was held back from crossing the English Channel into France because he wanted to take the truck with him and when he finally did get the ma | chine French soil, it was seized i by the government. By dint of sev- eraI days explaining, however, he convinced the officials that the truck was his and not the governments and he was allowed to drive on to Paris. | f"The English government had taken over practically al1<fhe cargo iisteamers plying the channel" sad MT. Cary in a letter from Paris. | Several times had shipment all ar. ranged for only to have it nu1lified 1 by the confiscauon of the boat by the English government. I finally secured a shipment for the truck on government boat, but as soon as we had drawn up at the first dock on French territory, was surprised to learn that the truck was considered government property because it had come o yer upon a government boat. | After several days of effort, however, ! 1 1 leased and secured. a military permit 1 to drive it to Paris. '9To reach this famous city, it was necessary to run a regular gauntlet l through the allied military fields T 1 was forced to show, every few miles, my passports and my papers from 1 the American consul general, the English consul and the Paris police. 1 I also had to submit to the inspection of many minor officers at the rail- way stations. who searched the truck, l my pockets, bank book, baggage, let l ters and everything else, that fancy suggested
 eve passed numerous trenches, rifle pits, many soldiers and constant strings of ambulances with here and
 there a few guns and horses which looked much. the worse for wear.
 "Otherwise my trip was uneventfu1
 to Paris. Aside from being. decidedly
 fatigued, dirty and hungry, we reach
 ed Paris with the truck in shipshape order.''
 NGr Cary will remain in the foreign
 field for the present.
 Despite the numerous handicaps
 which had to be combated in the
 staging of the fifth international 5oO- mile race, the Indianapolis motor
 speedway mana cement considers that
 contest by far the most successful
 in it's history. Both xrom the point
 of view of financial profit and of ! SDOrTr It sIuFn1Sh6d ,COnC1uS1VS 6V1dGnce fs that 5oO-niIe racing, las conducted al Indianapolis, is one of the worlds
 most popular pastimes. The attend
 ance figures, checked by official re- count, shot about 25,O0O over the mark expected by speedway officials ] Seventy-five thousand spectators, by
 actual count, filed through the gates
 between the hours of six and twelve
 many not arriving until the contest
 was almost half over, because of the
 lowering skies. The, speedway orr1' l cials are very we'll satisfied, the fall
 ing off in the attendance volume be.
 ing more than compensated by the in
 crease in the admission fee at the field gates to two dollars, as compar- ed with one dollar, last year, this de,
 spite the fact that grand stands [
 and G were thrown open free o,
 charge to touring parties who had
 to park their ears outside the grounds 5 instead of in the infie1d, which was too soggy to permit of motor cal
 travel Financially, therefore, the
 race was as much of a success a:
 ever.
 , From the point of view of sport . there was never great a contes
 in the worlds history The battle
 between Resta ana De Palma fo1 l first, with the Stutz team constantly
 at their heels ready to replace them
 should either one crack, stands with
 out parallel in racing annals. Ha6 spectators knew, when his car met with an ac.
 eident similar to that he sustained
 in 1912, and in almost the same iden
 tica1 spots on his T98th lap, it is z safe bet that half of them would have 1 left the field raving naniacs. As i
 was, however, Ralph shot his cal
 through to the finish, with one cylin, ,. der gone, and two holes punched through his crank case by a broker connecting rod. For once he hac beaten the jinx, and come home Z
 500-naile victor.
 The average set by Palma, 89.S4
 miles an hour, is one racing expert
 predict will stand for a long time.
 Particular satisfaction is felt b.
 the speedway management over tn
 fact that there were no accidents
 either in the running of the race, O
 in the handling of the immense crowt
 over the nnired, slippery roads Tn
 new safety wall, built this year. b. the speedway, more than repaid tn : cost of it's installation on a coup1 of occasions,a once saving Dario rResti \ from injury, when he skidded on \ turn while trying to get lead ol A De Palma. and another when Ralpl MuIford Lost control of his hnachine and slid from one wall to anothe e without any damage. Last year, tn q same protective arrangement wou1 without doubt have saved Chassagne Joe Dawson and others from harm l ITOuO10 COIl1hS WAASh IAASS S41 ( off into the soft dirt, caught, an overturned.
 < Incidentally, mention must be mad of the fact that Gil Anderson's Slut crushingly smashed the 5O0-rniIe rec \ ord for American-made cars with a. l average of S7.60 miles an hour. bu , two miles removed from eD Palma } despite the fact that he had seven tir } changes as against the Italians twt , Climbing above the clouds to tn , top of Americas most famous noun tain will be the sensation afforded t tourists this summer by new moto ? bus line running from Colorad = Springs to the summit of Pikes Peal g. The buses will be operated in con l. petition with the old cog railway,