The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-05-31
G. CHEVROLET
wins GREAT
AUTO CLASSIC
French Driver in American
Car Wins When DePalma S
Car Takes Fire at 467th
Mile.
BOYER l.. IT FIRST


afternoon in the time of 5:40:16 be-
fore a crowd of 125,OO0 Average,
8S:16 miles per hour.
Ralph DePalma, leader up to 467
miles, was forced out of the race when
his car took fire. Rene Thomas in
Ballot was second. Tommy Milton in
a Duesenkerg, third.
Thomas time was 5:43:2; Milton's
time 5:46:43.
Ralph DePalma, the favorite, was
robbed of an apparent certain victory
when his car caught fire with less
than 80 miles to go. Ralph had lead
of 10 miles when the flames broke
out. After he eXtinguished them he
returned to the race.
At $50 miles DePalma was leading
with an average of 90.44 for the race
so far and G. Chevrolet second.
DePaIma's Car on Fire
When 467 miles had been run, De
Palma's car caught fire and his mech
anician rolled it to the pits where the
blaze was extinguished and DePalma
was able to go ahead, gaining second
place, with G. Chevrolet in the lead at
ATS miles in $3.50 R.sThomas was
third.
At 400 miles DePalma was ahead
while G. Chevrolet went up from third
to second place. Rene Thomas was
third and Chassagne fourth. Boyer
dropped back to 5th place. DePalma' s
average time was 907
At 800 miles Boyer stopped for gas
and oil, with only two miles separat-
ing him and DePalma, who took the
lead, averaging 963 miles. G. Chew
rolet was third and r. Thomas fourth.
De Palma had made the distance i'll
3:18:16.
Fifteen cars were still in the race
at noon. Sarles was out on the north
turn in the 57th lap. Others who
were out before the 300-mile mark
were Boillot, Haupt and Wilcox. Per
porate was ruled out by the judges
because his car was declared to be
dangerous to other drivers.
With $50 miles finished, Joe Boyer
led the field by five miles, having held
the lead from the start. CASTOR Chev
rolet was second, Rene Thomas third
and Ralph DePalma fourth. Boyer's
time was hours, A minutes, 26 sec
onds, an average of 9122 miles per
hour. A crowd estimated at 125,000
was in attendance.
At the end of the first so miles.
Boyer, who shot in the lead at the
start, maintained the advantage. aver
aging 9067 miles an hour; Kline was
second: J. Chassagne, third. Boilet
was out at the end of SO miles.
Boyers was in the lead at the end
of the Tooth mile, with Chassagne sec
ond and G. Chevrolet third. Rene
TNl,
1:05 At, an average of 1886 miles
per hour. Roscoe Sarles, one of the
Hoosier drivers, was forced to make
a stop in the race. He drew to the
pit after the seventh lap to change a
tire.
Kline Has Smashup.
The first smashup occurred in the
Tooth mile, when the steering con-
nection on Klines car broke. The
car crashed into the brick retaining
wall on the turn, swerved off the
course, and then darted back on to
the track again. Neither driver nor
mechanician was hurt. The car was
withdrawn
Averaging 91.45 miles an hour, Boy
er was leading the field at 200 miles,
which he covered in 2:11:13, with r.
Thomas second and DePalma third.
To the winner went a cash prize
of $4,000. A total of $500 the rich
est prize ever offered in automible
competition, was distributed among
the drivers. The winner. in addition
to the $4,000 in first prize, also had a
chance to win $4,000 more in the lap
prize competition offered by Indianap-
oils business men.
A prize of 500 will be awarded to
the winner of each complete circuit of
the two and one-half miles course and
if a pilot is successful in taking the
lead and retaining it, he will be as
sured Of $4,000.
Test In Engineering.
While driving skill was an import
ant factor in the race, the supreme
test was in the engineering genius OF
France and America. The creative gen
ius of the master mechanics of France
were pitted against that of American
builders in the cars that faced the
starter and the manner in which they
with stood the terrific grind revealed
the respective merits of the rival
designers.
OF the eight races held over the In.
dianapolis course only two have been
won by American-built cars. Twelve
of the % cars in today's event were
Of American design, while the others
carried the colors Of France.
For the first time in the history OF
the event, the cars had a piston dis
placement of 1913 inches or less. The
first two races were open to cars OF
500 inches. Last year the winner had
q displacement Of 2746 inches.
Several hundred automobiles bear
ing tourists from distant cities were
parked at the gates of the course, the
occupants having slept in their ma
chimes in order to win advantageous
parking spaces when the gates were
thrown open at 80 o'clock.
The race was real national cele
! bration, the nationwide character o.
which was evidenced in the license
tags on the cars jammed around the
course, nearly every state in the unior
being represented.