The Alaska citizen., 1917-07-09

| t. Gardner and Harry shuts. Fred Haggren and Ralph Keys were in pit number five. while Nj A Howe
 and Bob lngersoll occupied pit nun
 ber six
 | After the first few laps there was
 never any doubt that, barring acci-
 dents. either Sheldon or Scanlon
 would win the race. Both used their years of experience as automobile | drivers in very dexterous manner, Sheldon particularly using his ability
 10 jockey his opponents. And both i Sheldon and Scanlon were "pocketed' l themselves on several occasions, | and il was while he was in one of l these pockets that Scanlon was pass 1 cd by sheldon. Later on in the I1Hcc. however, SCanlon again took the lead, maintaining il to the finish and losing only because he had se cured the twenty-five seconds start l on Sheldon and because the latter l finished eighteen seconds behind him, ! thereby winning the Tace.
 1 The driving of Joe Enos, who was l third when the winners of the race crossed the line. was surprise to
 many ngenfritz, a young man prac-
 tically unknown here, who had been much touted as a driver, proved to be disappointment. The failure of Nealey to make a better showing
 than he did is attributed to the fact
 that he had Carburetor trouble, while
 it is now stated that the Metz. which all the Fords, ran the entire race
 with but two of the cylinders work | ing. It is also stated that Stacer, | the driver of the Metz, has expressed
 a willingness to challenge either
 Sheldon or Scanlon. or both of them. Considerable money is reported to have changed hands on the outcome
 of the race One of the bets was
 car for car, made by Sommers and
 Sheldon Consequently, after the
 race was over, Sheldon took the | Sommers car in tow with rope and. with MT Sommers at the wheel. drove around the track with il, stop ping again in front of the grand stand l long enough to pose for q moving
 picture, taken by NJ. Cockrills. an i Outside motion picture photographer
 who is making the grand belt tour. l Prior to that time, however imme- 1 diately after the flag had been drop ped on sheldon as the winner of | the race, he was taken from the | car and hoisted on the shoulders of 1 number of his admiring friends,
 glad that it was Fairbanks veteran l glad that it was the man who first l took an automobile over the trail | between Fairbanks and Chitina,
 thereby showing the possibilities of | trail travel, who had won the race. l The weather yesterday was ideal for racing. Considerable rain had fallen the night before, but the sun
 had the effect of drying up the mud. Therefore there was neither mud nor dust for the drivers to contend with dition as it would be possible for a speedway of its kind to be at the beginning of the race, but toward 1 the end it was pretty badly cut up,
 Therefore, taking generalities into
 consideration, the race was big success. There was, of course, no time made like is made on Outside race courses, the time of the win. ners being about thirty-five miles an hour. But there were many peo-
 pie in the crowd that witnessed the event to whom it was novelty; an event never to be forgotten And all the racing cars were S'olds strip ped down, with the exception of the
 Metz, which had all of the heaviest
 parts of it's body removed
 The success of the race is due en- tirely to Dr. J. R. Bowen, chairman
 Of the sports committee of he cele-
 b1ation, and his corps of assistants.
 It was at Dr. Bowen's suggestion
 that the race was held, for II was
 he who persisted in holding it in the face of numerous objections. | But now that it has been proven that an automobile race can be pulled off here, it is entirely probable that l they will prove to be the big draw. l ing cards when sporting events are | again held in Fairbanks.
 THE HORSE RACES.
 1 Tba hOrSe racaS vest Stprday after