The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1932-05-14
TALKING
1T OVER
BY JOE WILLIAMS

NEW YORK. May i4.-They arc
~ getting ready to hold the 500
mile automobile race out in Indi-
annapolis and Mr.. Stephen jerome
flanagan writes me that the crowd
this year viii be close 70 i40,-
900. Which is quite stack Of peo-
pie any way you count them.
You don't hear as much about the
500-mile race as you do about some
Of the other big sports events-the
Derby and the Notre Dame-South-
ern California game, for example.
Yet year. in and year out the race
outdraws every sports event IN
America. In 1929 the turnstiles
showed l6o. 900 paid admissions. an
ali-time American record for sports
attendance.
Mr. Hannaaan explains that the 500
mile race la WEat you might caH The world
series OF tao automobile INDUSTRY j. is
botn a spectacle alQ cli14l. attracting
people Wno arc primarily interested IN
speed and others whose chief interest -
in tns development % motor1."
Mr. OHanuaHal has q bunch that one
o. The old timers may come through with
a victory this year and thus break the
dynasty Of youth which has reigned for
y commended you to Mr. Leon Duray. 70
writes M Hannagan. he aQlds ne
track record OF i2f0i6 miles ar hour for
one circle q the two and one-na!f mile
track out here.
he Is old enough 10 be the daddy Of
against him Nav 30 Yet despite his
forty odd years he Is SIN terror on the
IN the most treacherous corner. There is
no chance 70 make his bones creak IN the
hard spots. with any kind Of racing luck
be viii be hard 70 beat
Then there is Gin Durant the multi
millionaire sportsman. who has spent more
than $500. 900 70 see his colors fash 20 the
front here. Up 70 nov none Of the cars
he has drivcn-or owned-has done better
than second This year. Durant is back
as hired chauffeur. not only because the
trader. IS ancmlc. but because he figures
De NAV drive harder for somebody else
than he did for himself. 50 here he IS
tooling the car owned bv Harm Martz. Who
used 60 work for him. las IKE that these
dafs even on the race course. Durant IS
greatest drivers in the game.
ID ACE driving is a peculiar sport.
IN The doWneasters look upon
it with raised eyebrows. But that's
because they know little or nothing
about It. at least as we see it I'M
der the lens Of the microscope. Still
it seems to me that race in which
life itself its often at stake ought
to be a trifle more interesting than
a ping pong tournament or a
wrestling match.
Tommy Milton only two-time winner OF
the event told me once that when a car
spun under YOU went into @ wide. sweep
INK runaway whirl. grazcd the inside and
out side retaining walls, with on-coming
cars Duncfuatine your plight. and 70
seemed fun-to keen on driving; But when
the same thing happened and u scared YOU
70 death-to cult.
That's the spirit OF the race course
It's also the set standard by which prac-
ticaiiv all race drivers decide whether they
are stlll good enough 10 keep IN the game;
Some OF them get fright fever early ana
retire before they are 30. others never
You may have read that Barney Old
field is back On the track driving again.
though he Is not going 70 drive out here.
An audacious youngster forced Barney into
his first retirement. He cut across IN
front Of him. laughed. and yelled back.
How do you like that. grand popg Bar
ney didn't like 10 at ali. In fact he be-
came a grandstand spectator from then
on