The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-04-10
DE PALMA WILL
 DRIVE GAR IN
 BIC AUTO RAGE

Indianapolis, Ind, April 10.-Ra1ph De Palma, undoubtedly the , most popular automobile racing driver in history, has signed to drive in the Eighth Annual 500-mi1e race to be held at the Indianapolis Speedway, l May 31.
 Ralph will pilot a Ballot, a product of the famous Ballot Motours, Paris France, and there is no little mystery surrounding the mount the winner of the 1915 classic will drive His l team mates in the big race are not ] announced, nor are any details of his i car except that it will be of 1S0 | cubic inches piston displacement, cubic inches inside the limit specified, and that it will be a 1920 model Last year De Palma drove a 12- cylinder Packard and despite persist | ent engine and tire trouble finished sixth This year he is riding a Bal 1ot-'sbecause he wanted something distinctive'' as he puts it.
 l Little is known of the Ballot car as last year was the first time it ap- peared in racing competition. In the 1919 sweepstakes four Ballots were entered Albert Guyot finished fourth, Rome Thomas eleventh, while Louis Wagner and Paul Bablot other members of the Ballot team were
 forced out of the race because of | broken wheels.
 However, Rene Thomas, speeding a
 Ballot, travelled the fastest lap ever
 turned at the Speedway, when in tbe
 speed trials he was caught by the
 timers in 1:25:89, or an average of 104-78 miles per hour The nearest
 approach to this record made by an
 American driver in a Yankee made | "a Hxy T
 Frontenac, 1O3.15 miles per hour or 1-3S:37 for 3 1-2 miles.
 De Palma first raced in a Ballot al
 the Los Angeles Speedway, this year
 He finished eighth and in the mea h.
 time changed eighteen tires. The ea1 that De Palma will drive here in May is still under construction in France at the Ballot plant. It is rumored that it will be of 8-cy1inders in line type, a racing sensation.
 He has been turning in some fas cards in trials on coast tracks re- gently, his best trip being around z , 1 1-4 mile oval in 132:12, or 117:01
 miles per hour. His speed trials over . the Indianapolis track before the race . will be watched with interest by de , voices of the speed game and his per formance in the race will undoubted - 1y furnish thrills aplenty for all tn. racing bugs.
 Ralph, of the sunny disposition ant , ever present smile, firmly imbeddet | himself in the memory of the thous l ands of race enthusiasts in the 191.
 sweepstakes. With but two laps t, s go, De Palma and his flying Mer e cedes, which had kept the stands ol 0 its feet throughout the thrilling rae O by its daring performance under D @ Palma's guidance, was leading tn | vanguard of racers with Joe Daw
 son, the nearest competitor, 8 laps O
 20 miles behind.
 It looked like an easy win for tn
 favorite of the day, but connectin
 rod broke, tossed him out of the rae
 prize for first place out of his hand. -+ De Palma jumped from his car an 7e pushed it down the home stretch t ,f his pit amid the cheers Of the eS
 cited thousands. When Joe Dawso
 in Number s, a National, whizzed b ~ him, De Palma waved him on to vic s tory-and kept on pushing his dis = i abled car-Sni1Ing.
 - Joe Dawson won the raee-bu Ralph De Palma was the hero of tn .1 day.
 .f De Palma has never blamed Thar t luck for his racing misfortune H y merely tef7s what happened to th
 car, giving no alibis. His clean sports
 manship has won for him a place
 the racing hall of fame-there neve o was a more popular driver. In 191 V he came back and won the sweeI
 stakes. driving a Mercedes