Omaha daily bee., 1916-12-31
PROFITS LARGE IN
AUTO RACING GAME
Dario Resta Wins Fifty One
Thousand Dollars in Cash
for Seasons Toll.
PEUGoT is LEADING CAR


car won the racing championship Of
1916, captured S5l,s50 in cash, win
ming six OF his eleven starts in the
leading motor events, according 10
Jerome T. Shaw's review of the year S
races, in the Horseless Age, In SIX
victories Resta made total OF 400
points in the American Automobile
association championship award. and
in addition TO the prize money
took the $1,000 Bosch trophy
emblematic of the championship.
John Aitken, who closely pressed
and at times led Resta in the cham
pionship fight, finished the season as
runner-up with total OF 3,440 points,
having to his credit seven hrsts and
two seconds in thirteen starts. His
money winnings were $5,75o, includ-
ing the $1,000 Goodrich and the 81 1000
Bosch awards. Rickenbachcr, who in
1915 made the best performance in
the speedway contests, finished third
the last season, with 2,ol0 points
scored in four firsts, two seconds, two
thirds, in twenty starts. His prize
money totaled $4,000
While 1915 was heralded as marking
the advent of l00-mile an hour races,
the season just ended has placed this
high speed performance in the shade,
no less than twenty-seven Of the cars
finishing in the thirty-seven races OF
the season recording a speed above
the century mark. From the begin
ming OF the 1916 speedway campaign,
aside from the early races at Ascot
Park, the past speedway records were
broken, the high-water mark in long
distance contests being reached at
the Hardness trophy race at Sleeps
head Bay, October %, when Aitken's
Peugcot averaged l05.95 miles an hour.
The only exception to the record
breaking performances was the 800
mile race at Indianapolis Decoration
day, when Resta's average was S599,
as compared with the course record
OF 1894 miles an hour made by De
Palma in Mercedes in the S0O-mile
race OF 1915.
A fair idea OF the increased speed
during the last season may be OBJ
tanned by comparison Of the aver
age speeds of the contests OF the last
four years. In the eighteen contests
OF 1918, which, with the exception OF
the Indianapolis event. were road
races, the average speed was 5S.7S
miles per hour; in the seventeen races
OF 1914 the average was 65.20 miles
per hour; last years twenty-five. races
were run at an average speed OF 1880
miles per hour. In the thirty-scven
races on road and speedway during
1916 the average speed OF the winners
was 1871 miles per hour, or more
than twelve miles an hour better than
the average for 1915.
Ninety Miles an Hour.
All OF the speedway races brought
an average OF 1892 miles per hour,
the fifteen championship award events
were run at an average speed OF 914s
miles per hour, and without the Van
derbilt and Grand prize this average
was boosted to 93.44 miles per hour.
In the Vanderbilt cup and Grand
prize, the only important road races
OF the season and probably the last
Of the Vandcrbilts on the road, the
previous records were broken. the
average speed for these contests be-
ing 1898 and 85.55 miles per hour, re-
speetively. The decline in road races
was emphasized by the abandonment
OF the Elgin races, the only road
contests that have been held east Of
the Mississippi during the last few
years. There were several road con-
tests in the west, but they failed to
attract the high class fields that
marked the running OF road races sew
cral years ago O'Donnell proved
to be the star OF the road drivers,
winning the Corona and Raisin Clas-
sic, the features OF this class, cxclud-.
ing the Santa Monica contests.
While the number of races run this
year was grea~- in number by fif-
teen than those held in 1915, this in
crease can be attributed to great
extent TO re fact that several OF the
specdways hell two and three meets
and the shorter distances Of the races
permitted the runninv OF several
events at some of these meets. The
new speedways at Los Angeles, Kan
sas City, Cincinnati and Uniontown
helped to swell the number of events.
During the year there were 49S start
crs in the thirty-seven races and OF
this number 238 completed the re-
quired distances. Last season 333
cars started i'll the twenty-five races
of the season and 1877 received the
checkercd flag.
Fl Peugeot Car Leads.
In reviewing the seasons racing it
is disclosed tina the Peugeot car was
started forty-seven times and scored
fifteen frsts, six seconds and two
thirds, while its nearest competitor,
the Duesenberg, won six races, I'm
ished second six times and third on
FIVE occasions out of sxty-eight
starts. Thus the Peugeot wins the
car championship FOR 1915, replacing
the Stutz, which through its sensa-
tionai performances was awarded the
title last year, Ralph De Palma who
finished fourth in the drivers stand
ing. drove his Mercedes in eleven
races during the last season, winning
four, being second in two and third
in one. The Mercedes finished third
The Maxwell comes fourth, with
thirty-two starts, OF which it won
three races, was second in three 9TH
crs and finished third three times
The Stutz, which was handled chiefly
by Earl Cooper and did not ,artici-
pate in any races as factory entry,
won two races, was second four
ti..acs and third ir, thug. x>HaS 49,. IL