Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-08-11

tendants had their supplies in apple
pie order. At the edge of the track
stood a pressure tank with two gaso-
line horses attached in order that
gas might be taken on speedily. In
side the pit were stored cans of
lubricating oil and spare wheels, At
292 miles Dawson drew into the pit,
took on gas, oil and water, o K and
was gone in less than four minutes.
In order to prove conclusively that
the motor need not be stopped dur
ing the entire run the spark plug was
changed while the motor hummed
on. There was a murmur of applause
from the spectators as the car gath
cred speed.
Through the long night Dawson
drove on, stopping at intervals for
food and for fuel, oil and gas for his
engine, but never for any mechanical
repairs.
A heavy fog rolled in from the
east at o'clock in the morning.
Denser and denser it grew. Still the
car hurled on. There was no slack
ening of speed, though the watchers
coudl not understand how 1t was
possible to drive so swiftly.
At 8 a. m. Dawson rolled up to the
Joe Gardham. Take no chances in
the fog, Joe." admonished w. +.
Sturm, contest manager, as he patted
Gardham on the back as the car slid
away and was lost to sight not fifty
feet from the pit. When Gardham
drew in for gas later he said the fog
was so dense on the turns that he
had to ride up against the outside
rail in order to keep his bearings on
hn M
Dawson, refreshed by catnap. took
the wheel again. He completed
twelve hours with 957 miles to the
cars credit, against 923 for the old
record. The cars average was 79%
miles an hour.
At S.55 Dawson gave way to Card
ham again. At 11.2S Dawson took
the wheel and stayed with it to the
end.
But through all the change of
drivers the car worked on. Flesh
grows weak. But when the weary
driver climbed out of the car the
sturdy heart beating beneath the
hood held the even tenor of it's way.
The motor seemed to set at defiance
the fierce heat of the atmosphere,
the tremendous strain on the work
ing parts and the vibration caused
by the inequalities of the track. The
sympathetic watcher at the pits could
almost see the smile of satisfaction
and the twinkle in the left front
lamp of the car as it seemed to wink
as it drew into the pits with the
knowledge that 1t had smashed the
twelve-hour record by thirty-four
miles.
One could almost hear the car
Immediately stamp its figurative feet
and putter fiercely when a stop be-
came necessary. 1t did not seem to
wish to waste a minute. AS the
hours crcpt by the American Auto
mobile Association officials and the
men vitally interested in the perform
ance were alternately smiling and
choking as the sturdy car moved
swiftly on. And If ever love was
engendered for an inanimate object
1t was engendered in those who fed
the car and attended to it's other
wants. Big Jack LeCain, used to
tooling 11O-miles-an-hour race cars
around the speedway, voiced his ad-
miration time and time again. He
had volunteered to assist at the pits
and he never closed an eye during
the whole twenty-four hours. When
| he was not helping with the supplies
he was flashing the general o X
| sign to the driver or giving him the
| distance yet to go, We time of his
last lap and the dist lnce he was
ahead of the old record.
The drivers took an orangeade and
sandwiches while the car was being
fed. A big chicken dinner was
served in the judges stand at
o'clock the first night to thirty
officials and workers, and sand
wiches, liquid refeshment and cigars
were on tap during the entire twenty
four hours.
Fred ]. Wagner's electrical timing
device is used. Professor Richard
Leavell, of Iowa State University
operated 1t. H. A. Tarantous. tech
nical editor of Motor. was the techni.
cal representative of the A. A. A
under whose sanction the test was
conducted. w. F. Sturm, Chalmers
! contest manager, was in charge oi
the test. Moving pictures were taken
and these will be sent to the various
dealers and distributors desiring
them. They show everything from
the garage life of the crew to the
end of the test.
The average an hour for the tota,
time was 79.0S33 miles, the old rec
ord being 1873 The stops took uI
S5 minutes seconds. The actua
running time was at an average OF
S1.09 miles an hour. against the OLD
record OIL io.D.
One popularity of the test of in
terest is that the speedway is meas
ured three feet from the pole. Ow-
ing to the speed at which the Chal-
mers travelled. its orbit was nearer
the top rail than the bottom of the
track, so that it is safe to say that
the car actually travelled over 1,94C
miles. At twenty-three feet from
the pole the distance would be over
/ 1922 miles. A mark was made al
this point and the car rode con-
tinually eight to ten feet above the
mark. If 1t were permissible to fig
ure the distance at the twenty three
foot mark. the average for the car
would be SOL for the total time, OIL
S2.14 for the running time. Chalmers
consistency is shown by the fact that
there is a difference of only sixteen
miles between the first twelve hours
and the last. The greatest variation
in the hour distances was from 7E
to SO, or miles; in the old record
1t was from So to 50. or II miles.
The following table for reference
shows the Chalmers performance
hour for hour with previous higI
record.
Chalmers Old
Hour. Performance. RECORD
1............. 1888 77.77