Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-07-20

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canoe Of the tragedy finally re-
ears.
Despite a bandaged left 70
burning trash, he drove from
serve as one Of Millions pail
bearers last week. Now he was
in Washington to help with a
party at the Touchdown Club
given annually by the Darling
ton Is. c. Raceway, for which
Catlin is publiciSt.
Milton was known to this de-
partment, but not as "the
greatest name in American
auto racing" as one columnist
referred to him in memorium,
Gatlin backed up the column
mist.
American racing has had
four phases" Catlin said by
way of introduction. First was
road racing, and that's all there
was for a time. Then came the
board track era. and the dirt
tracks and always, since Indi-
annapolis was built in 1909, you
had the hard tracks.
Tommy Milton drove and
won on all four. The only other
man who did this was Earl
Cooper, who is the all-time
leader in AAA points but who
started racing long before Tom
my and finished later"
Milton, Catlin pointed out,
was the first man to win at In
dianapolis twice 1921 and '23)
and the last American to hold
the land speed record-about
160 miles per hour in the two
way flying mile, set in the early
1920s in a Duesenberg at Day.
tona Beach. The record lasted
seven years.
Catlin said in 1947 he was
commissioned to make a survey
OF who was the greatest all
time American driver. He inter-
viewed Is leading authorities
from all periods and phases of
the sport.
THE surprising thing" Russ
said, was not that Tommy Mil
ton won the poll, but that it
was unanimous. Unanimous!
Tommy not only had SUI
preme intelligence and ability
but his will to win was fright
ening. When he decided to
make his move everybody knew
1t and, despite almost insur-
mountable odds. he'd accom-
plish it.
"He was the most prolific
winner on boards that ever
lived" Catlin continued. 1.-THE
board tracks were like the SUI
per stock car tracks today.
They were all a mile and q
quarter long except Atlantic
City and Culver City (Calif.)
which were a mile and a half
The average speeds were 119
to 125 miles per hour, and that
was back in 1926 or so on hard
tires"
80
Milton, according to Catlin
won more board-track races
than anybody else. yet he al
most always came from be-
hind. And he didn't start rae
ing until 1917 and retired per-
manently just IL years later.
HE won his first Indianapo-
lis by a trick, beating Roscoe
Sarles," Catlin related. Tom
my had built his own car, a
Miller, but it was not a good
car. Louis Chevrolet loane d
Tommy his Frontenac, but it
beat you to death.
with 20 laps to go Tommy
was exhausted, but he could
tell that Sarles, leading in q
Duesenberg, also was tire d,
Somehow Tommy got by him
and as he passed Sarles he
reached back and slapped the
car like a jockey whipping a
horse.
"Sarles sat back and came
in second. He explained later
that Milton obviously was
fresher and he couldn't beat
him in his condition. Augie
Duesenberg was fit to be tied"
In 1928 Milton was the fast
est qualifier and won in a
breeze in an He's Special. In
1925 he retired for the first
time and spent 100000 build
ing the "City Of Detroit" car.
He claimed his drivers weren't
getting enough out of the car,
so he came out Of retirement
in 1928 to show them how it
should be done.
'sCBut his drivers were right.
The car was no good" Catlin
said.
Milton was a 6-footer who
always kept his weight around
100 pounds. He was strict with
both his mind and body. Cat
lin credits him with supreme