New-York tribune., 1921-05-31
Milton Wins Rich Indianapolis
Speedway Classic in Fast Time
De Palma Snashes All
Records Up to 275
Miles; l4O, 900 at Race
By 7. C. Burton

lASOlfSLft1E " l41Og wa " AA~st
| Tommy Milton, Of Los Angeles, files
his income tax return for 1921 he will
have to report on $4,000 that fitted
into his grimy, numbed and talented
hands to-day.
The worlds speed king, who has
driven an automobile at the worlds
record average of 1856 miles an hour,
annexed this bankroll in the short
space Of 5 hours 81 minutes 44.6o sec
onds-the time that he took to-day TO
drive and win the ninth annual 500
mile Indianapolis speedway classic, in
the presence of the largest crowd that
has ever witnessed n sporting event in
this country, conservatively estimated
at 100000 parboiled and speed-mad
| persons.
At the wheel of plum -colored From
tenac Milton covered the 500 miles al
an average of 1882 miles an hour and
came within 49 and fraction seconds
Of equalling the best speed ever made
in the Hoosier motor marathon-Ralph
de Palma's 1915 mark of SO "a miles an
hour
Milton led the struggling field with
out serious challenge for the last 200
miles of the race, and won without ex-
| tending his car to the limit Of it's
| speed. Roscoe Sarles, Miiton's closest
rival, brought his Deusenberg over the
barking exhaust of the victorious
| Frontenac.
De Palma a Hero In Defeat
In the triumph of Milton an idol was
| shattered, but not until that idol
smashed all records for the race up to
and including 275 miles. Ralph De
| Palma was the days hero in defeat, the
| favorite with the thousands that packed
| grandstands and inield, and the CO.
star of Milton in the speed drama.
De Palma, piloting French Ballot,
| circled the track at car~wrecking pace
! for three hours, and had a three-lap
lead when his traditional jinx started
TO function. When the jinx got on the
! job it showed even more speed than did
| it's prey.
The hard-luck Italian made his first
| stop at the pits at the completion of
$50 miles to change spark plugs and
tires and to take on gas, oil and water.
At the end of another twenty-five miles
| ne stopped again for plugs. One more
lap, and he was done for the day, ex-
cept to push his crippled car to the
garage with broken connecting rod.
Although vanquished, De Palma was
richer by S10,650 when he wiped the
grease from his face, smiled stoically
and went into retirement. He won this
amount for leading the race for 10 of
| the first 1l2 laps.
The other lap purses were divided as
follows: $4,000 to Milton, $500 to SarIes
and S100 to Joe Boyer, who drove his
| Deusenberg to ruin before the race
was two hours old in desperate but
| frultless attempt to pass the unpassa-
| bic De Palma.
Nothing but Milton and De Palma
There have been more thrilling races
run on the Indianapolis Speedway than
to-day's event, which was too one-sided
to be especially spectacular While De
Palma was in he was unbeatable, and
when De Palma went out Milton as
surned the role Of the invinc;ble. AT
the end of four hundred miles only
nine cars were running. The other
fourteen that started had fallen by
the wayslde, unequal to the test of
speed and endurance that De Palma
and Milton furnished.
Milton drove conservatively, con
sistently and brilliantly. That he
! changed only two tires in The entire
five centuries of. furious running is a
tribute to the stamina of rubber and
tabrlc especially when the scOrchng
heat of the day and the blstering heat
Of the track are considered. He stopped
but twice at his pits and never asked
more of his car than the perfectly run
ming mechanism could give.
To-day's race was a tribute to the
engineering genius Of Louis Chevrolet,
who designed the winning car. 1t was
Chevrolet's second successive Indian
apolis victory, his brother, the late
CASTOR Chevrolet, captured the 1920
classic.
Foreign Cars Completely Outclassed
Only one of the six European cars
entered, finished inside of the money,
| Ora Haibe, substituting for Dario Resta
at the wheel of the English Sunbeam,
was the fifth car to get the checkered
! flag. The other invading cars lacked
! the endurance to withstand the punish
/ ing pace set by DePalma and Milton,
punishment that proved self-infict-
! ing as far as DePalma was concerned.
There were no serious accidents. The
crowd was tremendous but orderly.
There was one arrest, kootlegger go
ing to the hoosegow for peddling year
| ling hootch.
| TTTs-J H. 80