The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1935-05-31
PETTILLO WINS THE
MEMORIAL DAY RACE
CONTINUED from page one)

Weatherly was finishing his ninth
lap and in full view of the thou
sands of spectators jammed into
the .grandstand on the turn. As
Weatherly swept high into the
turn the rear wheels of his CreSco
Special caught a patch of oil.
In a split second the little ma
chine, travelling about 100 miles
an hour, was out of control, and
| after a few dizzy spins dived into
the wall.
Five minutes later AL Gordon
of Los Angeles, driving the same
Miller Special in which Ernie Trip
lett was killed on the coast, went
into a spin at almost the same
point as had Weatherly.
But Lady Luck, not Death, was
riding with him. The car struck
the top of the wall upside down
and stuck there, pinning Gordon
beneath it. The mechanic, Frank
Howard, of Long Beach, CAL, was
thrown clear, and, with the assis-
tahce of militia. lifted the car.
Gordon, uninjured save for a
small cut on his nose and bruised
knuckle, owes his life to his crash
helmet. On one side it was worn
as thin as tissue paper by contact
with the cement wall. 49,
/; These were the only crashes to.
mar the race, but mechanical i'm,
PROJECTIONS knocked many cars out
of the grind When Petillo, with
the cheers of record crowd OF
$4,000 ringing in his ears, cross
ed the finish line, but Is of the
original 33 starters were on the
track.
Petillo was a threat from the
moment Referee Amelia Earhart
gave Starter Charles Francis Coe
the signal to drop the green start
ing flag. He held off the pace for
the first so miles, but shortly aft
err the 50-mile post he moved into.
fourth position. He never was
worse than that. .'.,f
He stuck the snub nose of his
Miller in front at the goth lap
and. save for brief spell at the
14Oth lap, when he went into the
pits for water and fuel, never was
out of the lead. -,
At the end of the 145th lap,
with, SIS to go, he again went to
the head of the parade, and after I
that his rivals never saw anything
more satisfactory than the rear
end of his machine.
The race was far and away the
fastest in the 23-year old history
of the race. Not only did Petlllo
smash the track record-the first
ten ears all averaged better than
100 miles an hour. And young
man whose name does not appear
in the fnishers was largely respon-
sible for this. l
He is Rex Mays, 21-year-oId
Californian, and the baby of the
starting field. Mays. who won the
pole position with the fastest qua
iifying time, set binding pace
until a broke spring shackle forced
him out of the race after some
240 miles.
While he was in there the Call
fornia kid, who says the only Sc
cret to race driving is to "put your
foot on the floor and sit tight,
showed the way. For practlcaiiy |
all the first 100 laps 1t was s,o ms
little blue racer, with the 90
emblazoned on the side, that SET
the pace. Before he was forced 70 |
retire Mays had gathered an even
$4,000 in lap money. >, no,
Petillo's victory was worth $I -
$50 to him. Twenty thousand OF
this was the speedway's check TO J
the winner. Second place was
worth $4,000 to Shaw, whlle
Cummings earned $4,000 1or sho"
position. On
The race was delayed for ~
minutes rs miles from the finish
when a light drizzle began to 1ai,.
At first it was feared the finish
flag would be dropped at this
point, but Captain Eddie Ricken-
hacker, speedway president, after
a tour of the track ordered speed
resumed.