Evening star., 1925-05-30
22 AUTOS SPEEDING
FOR 100000 PRIZE:
125,000 WATCH RACE

Continued from First Page)
the drivers and spectators. AS dawn
broke the sun magically flooded the
huge racing plant and the thousands
of early arrivals began shedding their
coats in anticipation of a warm day.
Sleep at Track.
At daybreak more than one thou.
sand automobiles, forming a two
mile line from each of the eight
field gates. were waiting for the open
ing of the inclosure. The occupants
of the cars. sleepy-eyed and with dis
heveled appearance, had slept fitfully
upon motor robes and cushions for
chance to pick out choice positions
from which to view the race.
Indications of record breaking at
tendance were seen in the tremendous
crowds that had streamed into In
dianapolis since yesterday. Hotels
were overflowed. thousands spent the
night in private residences, while tour
list camps and public parks were pack
ed with hundreds of automobiles, bear
ing license plates from almost every
State in the Union. Every road lead
ing into the city was choked with the
invading cars bound for the speed
way.
Judging from the time made in the
qualifying tests. today's grind was ex-
pected to smash all records for the
event. The best mark for the dis
tance was established last year when
the team of the late Joe Boyer, killed
in race at Altoona, Pa. and Lora
Corum won the capital prize with an
average of 1928 miles an hour. The
time for the 5o0-mile grind was 5:23:51.
Look for 100-MiIe Rate.
Experts figured that today's winner
would average better than 100 miles
an hour. Picking the winner, how
ever, was a stab in the dark. Two
former winners of the race, de Palma
and Milton, were among the outstand-
ing favorites, while Hartz. who cap
tured second place twice and last year
finished fourth. also had a strong fol-
lowing.
The youthful De Paola was given
an excellent chance to win, due
to his performance in the trials. De
Paola turned the fastest single lap in
the trials with figure of 1:18:75.
better than ia miles an hour, the
fastest lap ever officially timed at the
course. Duray, fearless driver. made
the best average time In the qualify
ing tests, indicating he would make
a strong bid for the lap prize money
early In the race.
Lap Prizes Are Lure.
The driver of the car leading the
field around the two-and- one half
mile brick oval receives 500 for each
successful effort. AS the cars must
travel zoo laps to complete the race.
lap prize money totaHng 100000 Is
one Of the lures Of greater speed and
racing daring.
The winner Of the race will receive
$40 900, while $4,000 will go to second
place and $1,000 to third The first
10 drivers to finish will share in the
prize money. The sum Of 100000 will
be divided among other starters as
consolation prizes.
favorite with speedway crowds, has
jockeyed around more this year be-
fore finally settling on his car than
ever before.
De Palma is one of the few American
race drivers who gained fame as a re-
suit, of defeat. In 1912 this famous
Italian made heroic effort to push his
car across the finish line after 1t failed
him on the back stretch on the last
lap, when he had a lead of almost 20
miles. De Palma. with the aid of his
mechanician, gamely pushed the car
nearly a mile. but was disqualified for
the effort. When this decision was
made De Palma valiantly saluted Joe
Dawson, proclaimed the winner, and
won fame for his sportsma nship.
All the drivers in today's race, with
one exception, are Americans. The
lone foreign invader is Pietro Bordino,
an Italian driver, plotting an Italian
made car.
Balloon tires and front drive cars are
the innovations of this years race
The soft treads have never been uSed
in a Furnishing race before, and there
lis tremendous interest in their per-
formance. The drivers found them
very satisfactory in practice spins. en-
abIing them to make greater speed.
The front.drive cars have been taking
the sharp turns better than the other
speedsters, and manufacturers watch
cd their performance with a possibil-
| ity OF building passenger cars ct the
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