The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1931-05-30
L ALKING
IT OVER
by JOE WILLIAMS

NEW YORK, May So.-It begins
L Y to look as II the automobile has
come to stay. after all.
AT any rate, they are going to
hold the 500-mile race out in In
dianapolis today as usual, and Mr..
Stephen Jerome OHannagan. who
does the official blurbing for the
event, whites th>t there will be more
than 10000 people in attendance.
This is quite a wad Of people. taking
them from left to right. and. as have
written before. It Is more people BY far
than you wiz see gathered In one place
for any other sports competition in this
country. and this In spite Of the fact that
automobile racing has no general appeal.
The races both a speed test and
clinic in the sense that many mechanical
innovations are tried out on the track.
md later these innovations. II proved
sound. are made a part OF the car YOU
drive over the public highways.
This being so. a large part Of the vast
crowd Is made Up OF trades people. but
Mr.. O'Hannagkn assures me that most OF
the customers are owners OF private cars
and amateur speed enthusiasts. many OF
whom have been going to the 50o-mile race
since It's inception.
q
THEY have been putting on this
i race since 1911 and it appears
to be as popular now as it was back
in the days when the gas buggies
we're village eye-poppers, and only
the president of the local bank and
the mayor of the town rated high
enough, socially and financially, to
own one.
Ray Harroun. driving a Marmon. won
the first race. averaging 74.59 miles to the
hour. and that was considered hitting the
high spots What long time ago that
vast Teddy Roosevelt was swinging the
big stick. CY Young was winning
pitcher. Jim JeHries was trying to ex-
plain that knockout in Reno. Jerry Travers
was the Bobby Jones OF golf.
The next year the record was beaten BY
Dawson in a National. whizzing around
the TWO and half mile track in 1877 miles
Pm hour. The experts agreed it would be
long time before anybody beat that rec
ord But two wears later Thomas in
Dc,aRe boosted the record to better than
81 miles.
This was the race. BY the way. that
saw old Barney Oldheld break into the
prizs money for the first time. He was
fifth. Eddie Rickenbscker. a Young
driver Of o romise' finished tenth few
.ycs.s later Rickenbacker was fated to be-
come the most famous of all the American
ayistors in France. and today the same
Rickenbacker operates the track.
THE speed has improved con-
H. stantly logically keeping pace
VITA the mechanical refinements
The first driver to force a car
around the track faster than 100
miles an hour was Peter De Paolo.
This was in 1925. The exact time
was 101.13. He needed 4 hours So
minutes to complete the race. Har-
rCun, winner Of the first race, took
6 hours AZ seconds.
Tie fastest mile ever driven over the
track is credited to Leon Duray. who aver
fged 124 miles an hour two years ago, But
1T was not made in the race proper Duray
hi. this clip in q qualifying heat.
They say It was the finest exhibition of
speed driving ever seen on any track. And
vet Duray, with all his skill. wasn't able
10 win the race. It went to a Young IN
known. Louis Meyer.
This seems to be strictly race for young
hoods. with flaming impulses. Few of
the veterans win any more OF course
this NAV be due to the fact that not many
OF the drivers live to be veterans. The
mormarY toll or the 500 Is quite high.
although Harroun, the first winner, is stiff
up and around.
INTEREST in this years race CEN
l. ters on the possibility of Billy
Arnold, another young driver, re-
peating his triumph of last May
Only one man ever has won the
500 twice. That man was Tommy
Milton, winner in 81 and '23.
Milton won in spite Of the fact that
he was blind in one eve. and partly blind
in the other
Mr.. OHannaRan. incidentally, has writ
ten an interesting story about Milton in
the current issue Of the Cosmopolitan.
In all the wears 1 have been watching
automobile racing he writes, Milton
looms as the outstanding figure. Joe Bower
and Frank Lockhart we're moree spectacu-
lar Jimmy Murphy was more natural at
the wheel. But Milton was noted not only
for his prowess in handling speeding
cars but for the execution Of his en-
gincering principles; his strategy in COM
netition and his business sagacity.
q
TT was strange that Milton with
Il his optical disadvantage was
able to outwit examining doctors
for years. I knew him many years
before found out about it. During
his racing career Milton was very
conscious Of his optical shortcom-
ing. He used to memorize the eye
charts before going into the exam
nations. He could read them back
ward, top to bottom or in circles
from memory"
n u
Milton was the world speed King from
1920. when he flashed over the straight
away course at Daytona Beach at the
then amazing speed OF 1864 miles an
hour. until his retirement in 1928
Millions record was broken in 1927. A
record OF 24s miles an hour recently was
set by Captain Malcolm Campbell. an
Englishman"