The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1924-10-07
RACE GAME FLIRTS
WITH GRIM DEATH
THREE SPEED KINGS HAVE
DIED ON THE TRACKS
THUS FAR IN 1924.


A crash, roar, cloud of dust. A
twisted, smashed motor car. A dead
speed king, his broken body crushed
like the huge machine he controlled.
Another victim of the gasoline race
track.
Do the others stop in their mad
course to the line? MOI Though the
dust that has not yet settled they roar
on their way Their tense nerves, their
hearts of steel have grown accustom-
ed to such tragedies.
Present Year Unlucky.
The year 1924 is proving hoodoo
to the automobile racing game. AL
ready three kings of the speed demons
have been killed.
Joe Boyer, who had millions but
who refused to quit the game; Dario
Resta, one of the most famous OF Eu-
ropean drivers, and now Tommy Muir
ply, one OF the most daring and best
liked drivers America ever has known.
Boyer was killed at Altoona Pa,
when his Gar was hurled through the
plank fence at the top of the track
when two tires blew He lived only a
few hours. A few days later Resta, on
the Brooklands track, in England, was
crushed to death when his car smash
ed and caught fire. Then Murphy,
three weeks ago, was killed by pieces
of fence around the dirt track at SYRIA
cuse, NJ Y, the fence having been
reduced to splinters when he lost con-
troll of his speeding machine.
Join Other Martyrs.
Gone are these three to join the ranks
Of martyrs of the racing game CASTOR
Chevrolet, Howard Wilcox, David
Bruce Brown, Roscoe Sarles, Carl
Lemberg and countless others, also,
have been victims of the gasoline
track.
Who will be the next victim? In
every race the drivers face that ques-
ton. Perhaps, one driver knows, it
will be himself; perhaps his closest
friend. But still the racing continues.
The terrific speed of the gasoline
oval makes it almost impossible for
the pilots OF the cars to save them
selves in case of accident In a big
event the racers go 100 miles an hour
faster than many owners of pleasure
cars ever drive. These racing men of
iron nerves are trained to move the
cars as part of their own bodies. They
know every culver and pull of the
engine.
Men come from everywhere to fol-
low the racing god, men who are mill
lonaires many times over, men who
have nothing but the money they get
for racing, men who are rich one day
and poor the next. They race because
they love it and the risk of fame and
fortune-and of DEATHS in the blood.
Greatest Sport Risk.
The automobile racing game is the
greatest sport risk to be found Its
devotees bow to the god of speed,
god so relentless that he demands iron
nerves, hard muscles and clear heads
working with the most perfect pieces
of mechanism that can be put togeth-
er as the only safeguard against death.
This god of speed demands that the
qualifications for the man be sports
manship, the thing that makes auto
mobile racing in America spectacle
so thrilling that it far outshines such
excitement as fills the present pro-
gram of living.
The track kills mercifully when it
kills. A sudden swerve, leap or a
somersault, perhaps burst Of fame,
and the toll is taken before the specta-
tors have time to gasp. In one second
tragedy can swoop down on track
and tear a car from the whirling pack.
Know All the Dangers.
The racers know all the dangers of
the game. Each year, they are fully
aware, the track will take its toll from
among the drivers. But still they go
on racing. The stakes are high, 4 the
thrill is real, and fame is the reward.
The speed kings are willing to gam
bic with death.