New-York tribune., 1919-03-23
De alma Does
Not Think Ii
Unsafe to Race
At Least So He Is Reported
as MISUNDERSTANDING
About the New King Of
Speed and His Packard
By James H. Collins

Isn't racing awful)y dangerous?
Ralph De Palma mus answer M.
question at least fifty times every asv
that he works his fnst new "eo5p =.
1893" in speed or on the racing trasl
And every time his answer is tbs
same: '"'
"If ! thought it was wouldn't do
"But don't racing drivers get bu,
and killed ?" suggests the questioner"
people seem TO have a, childlike inters.,
in discussing with the speed KING Il,
the different things that might happen on
to him.
"Yes, they do--but only when acci.
dents occur" is De Palma $ reply.
BY which he means that every mis-
hap in his own speed career has beoo
definitely traceable TO an accident-s
tire "blew," bolt few through thu
radiator-so something like that But
something is just as likely to happen
while father is climbing up the stem.
ladder with a length of stovepipe, De
Palma points out, and for that reason
he maintains that stepladders are dan
gerous and father is apt to have an
accident, no less than the automobile
I L.
ties are very much against heads Of
families climbing stepladders, as COM
pared with speed kings meeting dis.
aster, because the latter are few in
number, and people who climb step
ladders are a multitude.
De Palma has been a serious student
of speed for sixteen years, and is now
spoken of as veteran, though he il
only thirtysiX years old. Still going
strong, and faster than ever. His first
speed work was as a bicycle racer. a
line that he took up because. being
athletic in his tastes, he thought il
would be good body culture Then he
was graduated into motor cycle racing.
and from that to automobiles His first
experience in the latter line was in
1908, when he did mile in 81 seconds.
At Daytona, Fla, the other day, he did
a mile in less than half the time, 24.O2
seconds, or practically two and half
miles minute.
These records are not exactly COM
parable officially, because the speed Of
1908 was made on a dirt track, with a
racing car within the 300 cubic inch
displacement limits set for racing,
905 cubic inch Packard equipped with
pure and simple, and not admissible
for competitive track racing. But as
records of how fast human being
can get over a mile of beach, and also
as measures of the development of
speed king, they are certainly inter.
esting.
No limit has yet been reached in
auto speed, says De Palma. Owing
to trouble with the official electric
timing device in Florida the top speed
of his big car was not put on record
De Palma broke record of nearly
eight years standing in Florida-that
of the late Bob Burman, who in 1911
drove big Bitten Benz car of Ger
man make at a pace of nearly N2
miles an hour Burman's car had
difficulty in keeping on the ground
owing to the tendency to plane, due
to the terrific speed. But through
scientific balancing and also the more
even application Of power from twelve
cylinders De Palma's car shows per
feet traction, leaving uniform whee
marks on the sand.
This gives basis for pushing or
further through higher power and still
greater refinements in construction
Two and half miles minute is goin;
some, yet De Palma considers i
merely interesting. For he is looking
to the future, Il period. of not NOR
than year hence, and perhaps onl.
matter of months, when the foreigi
automobile builders will have returne,
to peace production and developed ney
speed marvels with which to again in
wade the United States AS an Ameri
can racing driver, working with al
American car, built on lines develope'
by our own war experience, De Palm
is glad to be leading the procession
to-day. He wants to see America
cars stay in the lead and is workin
toward that end.
The car which De Palma drives to
day represents the contribution 0
American private enterprise to ava
ton, as contrastcd with the product
of European makers stimulated by gov
ernment subsidies for war. The bi
sos aviation motor in De Palma
Packard was designed by America
engineers and built in an America
factory during the same early 1871
period when European manufacturer
were developing aviation engines t
meet the desperate need cf the Allie
on the Western Front. 1t was com
plete and ready FOR action befor
An, doc1o roJ S.,a,. o,, Caro,ony