Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-03-09

Down on the Snlnmer1ng SanoS Oh
Daytona Beach, where at low tide q
150-yard-wide stretch Of smooth packed
highway stretches a 12-mile course be-
tween the tapping waves of the Atlantic
and the landward bulwarks of the sand
dunes, speed kings of the world will bat
tie for the title of undisputed master
of the roaring road. Over on the main
land, across the Halifax River, where
the town of Daytona Beach plays host
to thousands Of Winter visitors, signs on
the street posts point the way to the
venturesome achievements Of the men
who will try between March is and
March 80 to upset the mark OF 231 .26
miles an hour set last year by Sir
Henry o. D. Segrave in his Golden Ar
row. These signs spell out singular
Establishments, capped with the sig
rificant statement and question, speed
races, March 1880; $50 M. p. HIP"
Will Kaye Don, British speed driver,
be able to shatter Segrave's mark In
his 24-cylinder Sunbeam Silver Bullet?
Will another at present unheard-of
driver break Segrave's mark and leave
a swirl Of silver sand laughing at Don
as he thunders down the beach? VIII
Death play a hand in this reckless game
of laundering motors and hard-packed
sands on the worlds greatest natural
speedway?
15-Day Period Set for Trials.
These questions will only be answered
in the 15-day period set aside for the
races, when Daytona Beach, ordinarily
a beautiful, lazy Winter resort and one
of the prettiest towns in Florida, be-
comes the center of seething crowd OF
race enthusiasts.
Already the long. lean speedsters are
making their appearance at the beach,
lowed to the scene Of their potential
speed conuuests by prosaic touring cars
and limousines, whose topmost speed Is
a sedate IS or 80 miles an hour, for
racing cars do not travel along the
highways under their own power. They
do not get into high gear until they
have attained the top speed of an ordi-
nary car, and the sight of racing car,
even If the roads permitted such speed
travelling along a highway at speed IN
excess of 100 miles an hour. might upset
the alligators in the Halifax and Tomo-
ka Rivers, If it didn't set back the
growth Of grapefruit and oranges by q
few days.
Daytona Beach proper Is on an Is
land which stretches something like 70
miles in length between the outlets OF
the Halifax and the Tomoka, and for II
miles of its length offers the world
finest automobile speedway. Washed and
packed twice day by the pounding seas
of the Atlantic ocean, the speedway
proper stretches from the pier and casino
at Daytona Beach down to the con-
fuence of the Halifax with the ocean.
Tires Leave No Imprint.
At low tide a shimmering stretch OF
sand, packed almost to the consistency
of concrete, makes It's appearance be-
tween the palmetto-croWned landWaro
dunes and the tapping waves OF the
ocean. So hard is this sand packed that
tires of even the heaviest cars leave nc
imprint, and the surface may only be
denied by a hard glancing blow.
The laundering whine OF super.
charger. swirl of light surface Sane
and a racing car goes by at $50 miles
an hour, vet no imprint Of its passage
is left on the surface of this ocean
built speedway. Man could not have
| fashioned a finer strip Of surface or
which TO test the roaring wings OF MS
mechanical eagles. Nature herself has
done the job far better than man coulc
have done.
! The slope from dunes to waves Is So
/ gradual that there is little Likelihood OF
! gravity pulling the car from It's COURSE
! toward the ocean. Only few houses
! COJ ldIluWdIO CARdlloC VA 49,
! from the spot where ambitious plans IoI
! a massive hotel flivvered out few years
| ago, at the mouth of the Halifax, Il
! miles north, to the casino and pier.
The racing cars start at the soutn
end of the beach, working toward max
| innum speed at the start OF the meas
ured mile over which the speed tests are
made. North of the pier. toward Or
mond, six miles from Daytona Beacn
the sand strip narrows in spots ana Il
not fitted for the hazardous speed Trials
because Of its lack of continuity.
Death Stalks Course.
In past years death has stalkeo
along the stretch Of sands, killing two
drivers within two years and also killing
o photographer who ventured too near
the path of the roaring steeds of speed
| on April rs, 1928, a rear tire blew out
on the machine piloted by Frank Lock
hart and he skidded to his death only a
short distance from the judges tower
That disaster nearly claimed dozer
other lives among the spectators along
the sand dunes.
Last March Lee Bible, comparative
novice in the plotting Of speedy race
cars, closed the throttle on his 36-cylin-
der Triplex too soon and plunged to his
death Just past the finish of the meas
tographer, who had walked upon the
course from the dunes, went to death
with him in the mass of roaring, tum.
bling steel.
But this year officials in charge Of
the speed contests plan to exercise every
possible precaution to avoid the disas-
tiers of other years. Val Haresnape, for
mer secretary of the contest board Of
the American Automobile Association
who is directing the speed tournament
at Daytona this year, is proceeding
along lines designed to guard both
drivers and spectators from death OIL
injury. His precautions include rigiC
policing of the course and rigid entry
rules to avoid inexpert drivers and un,
safe cars.
Spectators this year will be kept bach
IL feet from the edge of the dunes anc
ocean approaches from Atlantic Boule.
ward will be closed by gates. A stee
timing tower in front of the grand.
, stand behind the dunes will be furthe1
fortified by a stockade of the ever-pres
, ent cabbage palmetto trunks deeply Sc
. in the sand.
Why it is that American manufac
. turers have been indifferent to TIN
speed trials Is not known ct paytona