Evening star., 1927-05-08
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against the Baltimore Washington
| Speedway Corporation and a cold rain
settled down to ruin an otherwise bad
| day for a race.
Hit Weather Obstacles.
Then began the troubles that later
| brought the Laurel track to its present
state of inactivity and it's dubious fu-
ture. While it's promoters sought a
| satisfactory rain date" officials of
the American Automobile Association
ruled that the race must be run the
following Monday. October IS. Speed
way promoters desired postponement
for two weeks when the race could
be run on Saturday. Deferring of the
race for one week was not possible be-
cause of the Inauguration of the Rock
ingham Speedway at Salem, n. II,
A. A. A. officials. however, ruled
that it was the 26th or nothing,
in so far as they were concerned.
The day dawned cold and cloudy and
numerous other obstacles faced .the
speedway. Trial runs were hampered
by rain and a slippery, treacherous
track. Tuning of the motors on sun
day, which might have been resorted
to In the emergency, also was pre-
vented by flooded tunnel-approaches
to the infield. Altogether, it was an
extremely inauspicious second appear
ance that world-famous daredevils
made at the Baltimore Washington
area.
But the weather and the unfavor-
able date were not the only troubles
faced by the speedway corporation.
Money was far from plentiful among
its supporters after one moderately
successful event to utilize a plant that
stood a large investment of capital,
and raising of 5000 as a guarantee
that SO much prize money would be
forthcoming to drivers after the race
developed Still another complication.
Payment of additional appearance
money, so-called, due drivers who
qualified in the trial runs, occasioned
further trouble for the Laurel Speed
way in connection with the second
race.
From a sports standpoint, however,
the race was all that could be desired.
Time was unusually fast. Bob Nc
Donough vanquished De Paolo, who
had wrested- a hard-fought victory
from him in the first Laurel event.
The winning time averaged 126 miles
an hour, but slightly below the then
world record for the 250-mile distance.
A crowd variouSly estimated at 10000
TO $4,000 was on hand in the grand
stand that was thronged to capacity
for the inaugural feature.
Crowds Show Favor.
Thus, despite all handicaps of
weather. unfavorable date and the
difficulty over the prize money, a
large crowd attended the October,
1925, race, which is further proof that
Washington, Baltimore and the sur
rounding territory was rather favor.
ably inclined toward automobile rae
ing, although it was a comparative
newcomer to this section.
Troublous times for the Laurel
however, were only begin
ming. Creditors became more and
more insistent in demands for their
money. Finally came the suit which
threw the company into a receiver
ship. This was shortly before the
opening of the 1926 season,
with the first race scheduled for June
10, and after the Winter of 1925.1926
and the early Spring of 1926, which
were occupied with squabbling and
the speedway promoters to settle their
obligations and counter protests by
track officials that this was impossi-
BILE until they were given another
chance to clear some money by hold
ing races.
Then came the break with the A. A.
A. and the Inauguration of so-called
outlaw raciry at Laurel after the mo-
toring body refused a sanction for
further events at the Maryland Speed
way. The opening race was sched-
uled for June 10, and a contract drawn
with the National Motor Racing Asso-
citation, an organization numbering in
it's ranks several drivers who had
competed in A. A. A. events, among
them Zeke Meyer, Jimmy Gleason,
Tom Dawson and others.
Motor race followers then were
given an entirely new deal in every
way There were new drivers. differ.
ent cars, including several of foreign
origin and three shorter races instead