The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1923-05-31
Hortz, And Murphy Hound
Milton's Heels Over Every
One OF 500 GrueIIing Miles
Of Brick Oval

achieved the ambition of his brilliant
racing career today when for the
second time he won the 5O0mile au-
tomobile race over the Indianapolis
motor speedway, repeating his victory
of 1921 before crowd Of 10000
spectators. II was the greatest throng
that ever witnessed a sporting event
in America.
Millions time for the 500 miles was
5:2s:06:27, giving him an average
speed of 91.4 miles an hour as com
pared with the record breaking speed
of 94.4S made year ago. Harry
Hartz of Los Angeles, who finished
escond in the 1922 race. Numbered
across the finishing line five miles be-
hind Milton, while Jimmy Murphy
winner of the 1922 race, was third,
about 10 miles behind Hartz. Hartz S
time was 5:33:05:9o, for an average
of 1905 miles an hour. Murphy I'm
ished In 5:4o:36:64,n for an average
speed of Ss.0S miles an hour.
Fourth place honors went to the
veteran Earle Cooper, while l. l..
Corum of Indianapolis furnished one
of the mechanical surprises of the
race by plotting specially pulit
"flivver" in fifth place. Frank Ell
lott, a California driver, finished
sixth. and Eddie Hearn seventh. Max
Sailer. one Of three German entries.
was eighth: Prince De Cycstria. a
French entry, was ninth; phil Shae1er'
driving an Indianapolis machine, was
tenth. Christian Werner, another OF
the German entries. finished eleventh,
lust outside of the prize money. OF
the "a cars that roared away In
belching of smoke at the start OF the
race, only IL survived the gruellns
test of speed and endurance. Eight
of the survivors were American crea-
tons, two were German ana one was
French. Four of the French machines
we're eliminated because of motor
trouble and the third German entry
was wrecked in smash-up.
Milton Forced Hard.
Milton, who collected about sS7ooo
as his reward for victory, gave a
wonderful exhibition of gameness,
skill and daring, as he was pusheo
every mile of the race by the thunder
ing speed marvels attempting 10 de =
feat him. Howard Wilcox, an Indian :
apolis driver, shared in Millions trl-
umph, for after his own car was elm
mated. he relieved Milton, whose
hands were painfully blistered as
result of gripping the wheel. w ilcoA
drove lis miles Of the race, taxing
the wheel at the $50 mile marx 10
enable Milton to have his hands
treated and bandaged. Milton Went
h ha cd INTO the race at the 375 mile
mark, two laps in the lead.
Millions champion car showed its
class in the first mile of the race,
its eight cylinders being in perfect
tune as the machine roared past inc
stands. The first so miles OF tae
grind was see-saw aftalr pet"een
Milton. Murphy and HartZ, first one
poinr into the lead and then the
other. When Milton had covered $50
miles, however, he was firmly en-
trenched in first place and held II
until the finish except for few min
utes around the 275 mile mark. when
he lost II to Hartz by stopping AT
man. worried the leaders by his grim
hold on third place until nearly the
finish of the race. Wilcox also made
things interesting until ne was
forced to quit with a broken clutch
around the 200 mile mark. He was
leading at one houndred miles.
Murphy Furnishes Thrills.
Murphy furnished the race fans
with thrill after thrill. mile after
mile, first holding first place. some
times second. third, fourth and fifth:
He showed rare bursts of speed
which undoubtedly on the stretches
were better than 100 miles an hour.
The youthful Californian. however,
suffered slight motor trouble and at
one time was foced to drop back to
ninth place. He gained steadily as he
reeled off the miles, FINALLY pushing
his car into third place, retaining
this position to the finish.
The race resulted in two serious
accidents in which three school boy
spectators from Lafayette. lind. were
injured one perhaps gravely Chris
tian Lautenschlager a German entry.
crashed into a concrete retaining
wall on his fifteenth lap. but mi
raculously escaped death although
his machine was wrecked. Jacob
Krauss, his mechanician, was taken
to the field hospital, but his injuries
were not as serious as first reported.
Krauss was the only mechanician in
the race, as all other racers drove
alone.
Alleys Car Overturns.
Tom Alley Of indianapolis, vet
eran racer. was in the second smash
up of the day. In attempting to pass
a car on the southwest turn of the
track, while speeding nearly 100
miles an hour. Alleys car skidded,
overturned and crashed through a
fence, seriously injuring Herbert
Shoup, Is, of Lafayette, who suffered
a skull fracture at the base of the
brain. Shoup'sT two companions,
Charles Elliott and William Goebe,
also were so badly injured that they
were taken to hospital. Alley. who
at the time of the accident. suffered
a broken left arm. cuts about the
head and body and possible skull
fracture. He was thrown some dis
lance from the speeding car after 1t
turned over. When Alley regained
h fc
tor stuck and he was unable to con-
troll the machine.
pi.henrtened Pilgrims.
Perhaps the most disheartened
drivers in the race were the two
Buenos Aires, and Martin De Alzaga.
also from the Argentine. De Alzaea
who travelled 10000 miles to parti-
cipate in the race, drove only 10
because of a broken connecting rod.
Riganti was forced to quit after
going Al miles after a broken gas
tank connection.
with race fans. Joe Boyer, were
among the noted drivers to be forced
out because of motor trouble.
Racing experts consider Millions
victory mechanical triumph. as the
three cars were of the same design.
The speed maintained by Milton
was remarkable in that his machine
was powered by a motor by only 122
cubic inches piston displacement
about two-thirds as large as the
smallest motor used in touring cars
in America. Today's was the first for
motors of such small displacement.
the race of last year being for 1873
inches piston displacement.
Caring For visitors.
The thrill of today's race was
nothing to Indianapolis. compared to
the task of caring for 100. 900 visitors.
Every available cot in every hotel
was occupied tonight and thousands
found shelter in private homes. All