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About The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 1906)
V V:- V: - 4:0 THEY "will ty to irov the automo bile .the ywirtest thing: in the wofld nt thptOrmond races to be held" late in the present month and there's more than a possibility that they 'will succeed. At all events neither pains nor expense rhas been spared in getiiriK ' rutiOy. Reginald Vanderbilfs .new r50-horse-p6wer car so built as to be within the weight limit and in which he hopes no doubt, to better his cou sin. W. K., Jr., will be the novelty of the races, but the most strenuous ef forts to outdo all earlier records are being made by half a dozon persons and interests. , Jt may be the impression of some people that the single record mile made by the automobile In January last, when Bowden at Ormond, did the j - distance in 32 4ro seconds or at the rate of a little more than 109 miles an fyour with an overweight machine. Is the fastest time ever made by anything t that goes on 'wheels, but this Is a mistake. Of all wheeled machines the steam locoinothe still holds the speed record, v. both as to short stretches, and long I f- distances. It has to its credit many ft' separate brief performances at rates I , better than 103 miles :in hour. Its long 3 distance performances still markedly i.bcat the automobile's best long-dis- :-. tance work. Xno fastest of the short-stretch rec I ords was made nearly four years ago i In Slar.ch. 1901, on the rails of the Plant ? SR. system iji Florida, when, on the run W from. Fleming to Jacksonville, Fla., five J miles were reeled, off in exactly 150 sec- at the rate of 120 miles an "hour. Bet ter than two miles a -minute -must be t 'done at Ormon-J this month if the au- ' lomoblle is to prove Itself the swift ! est machine in the world, jjg:- The earliest record bpttejc .than 100 mues an nour to me creo.it oi steam was made 12 years before in 183 by the Empire State Expross on the New York Central, when the then newly established fast train between "New York and Buffalo left a single mile .of rignt of way behind her 'whirring wheels in 32 seconds or at the rate of I ; H-'s miles. an hour. Automobiles were t so new then that most of us railed them liorselcss carriages and so rare itliat whenever one of us. saw one It i t. was a staple conversational topic for fe Mays afterward. t J,TJie longest stretch of more than ' "'.VH)0 miles an hour steam railroad Vi..-7i?pecd -ever made in this country was ; .tw years ago when 7.29 miles be J twten Palmyra and Maccdon, X. Y., wore covered in exactly four minutes, or at the rate of 109.3o miles an hour. Other fast records show speeds of 115, 111. 10S and 102 miles an hour on various lines over various shorter dis tances. Nothing better than the best of 'these records was made In 1905, though the number of instances of very high speed reported over short distances Iat year especially by the new 18-hour trains between New York and Chicago was much larger than In any previous year. Not to go more into detail of the speed records Just here, and for the present. Ignoring the experimental elec trie records made under the direction .,,. Mf the .Emperor "SVilllam some two or w three years ago, it must be admitted ; . ' hat .the steam locomotive the lum bering, clumsy, dirty, old-fashioned .f. "Itfjti horse." Is still the fastest thing , . . on wheels so far as practical results r ure concerned. ,-" The rapid development of the automo bile as a speed machine lias been one. of the marvels of the present six-year-old century, and there is little doubt that the . . ' peed development of the electric locomo tive within the next few years will be quite as marvelous. Not one person Jn ten thousand appre ciates how lately this same Iron horse was the newest thing -in the world and anything but "old-fashioned." Not one in ten thousand, probably. appreciates that until the first quarter of the last cen tury had paused there were practically no railroads in operation anywhere, and . that the entire progress of mechanical speed evolution has taken place in eighty years. Yet so it is. The limited train, running close to a mile a minute dally, week in euvO. wek out the Tvkoie ye&r re ad; tfee pill express steamship crossing the Atlantic Ocean In less than six days, and some times in less than Ave days and a half; the motor boat, with its 25 to 30-mile an hour clip: the automobile, with a record of over 100 miles an hour all these things are accepted as commonplace features of everyday life today even by those of ma ture years. Yet there are thousands of men and womon alive in the United States In Jan uary. 190G. whose memory runs well back of the first practical ntcam railroad In the world and still further back of the first In the United States, for It was not till 1S31, a short 75 years ago, that the first steam engine was run regularly on American rails. "Whatever may be thought about certain manifestations of the present speed craze throughout the civilized world, it must be agreed that the contrast between condi tions in those lands which have and which have not done most to develop railroad speed fully Justifies a lot of speed enthusiasm. In fact, it Is hardly too much to say that the speed maintained by its railroads is an accurate Indication of any country and Its people, as a whole; nor is it at all misleading to say that the four countries foremost In their devotion to the automobile Germans'. France, the United States and England arc also fore most in every other line or progress. Nevertheless, running an automobile SO. or even GO, miles tin hour on a rough and crooked country road, or betting your last cent on the ponies because of a tin, are foolish experiments: whoever tries-them should not grumble if he lands In a ditch, or breaks his neck or finds his pocket as bare of cash as Mother Hubbard's cup board was of bones when she went to that receptacle for the relief of her poor hungry dog. Yet "no one need be ashamed because his heart beats quicker at the sight of a spirited horse race, a flying train, a scudding, white-winged yacht; nor blush because he Is susceptible to the Intoxication produced by being whizzed over city streets and through country lanes at a speed which Is really little less than Insane. Automobile, Newest and Swiftest Racing Machine. AUTOMOBILE racing, newest speed game, but one In the world and quite different from horse racing, cither running, trotting or pacing, Is a mighty exphe sport. 2TJsura ta sbew j-uc-t THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN, PORTLAND, JANUARY 1, 'i906 1 . . ' -I i . rvrwfti Wss' it how costly are not aallablc, but the fact that conservative estimates place the expense of the Vanderbilt road races, run on Long Island. In 1905, at JKO.COO will furnish an inkling. The other new speed game 1r played with power boats, and It is as like auto mobile racing as any water game could be like one played on the land. Both games owe their existence to the inven tion of the gasoline engine, but the Rochester man who claims a license fee for every automobile operated, except those cun by steam or electricity, asks no compensation from those who use auto boats. There are several radical- differences between auto races and horse races. In the first place, though admittance fees are charged, at auto track races the expenses of auto road racing are not paid by the dear public, whose members turn out to see the fun. but by the manufac turers, the men who enter the races for prizes and the Automobile Association of America. There Is no "gate money." The race Is. free to spectators; Indeed. It would be impossible to fence oft the 20 or CO-mlle stretches oer which the autos whirl when speedily for Vanderbilt or Bennett or other cups and prizes on Long Island. In Europe or the smooth, glistening beach at Ormond. You have to pay for the grandstand seats, how ever, and maybo there will be gate money after the projected million-dollar private auto track has been built and opened in New Jersey. . In a way auto races are more sports manlike. If anything, than horse races. For. as the object of every manufac turer sending a machine to the contest is to win If he can possibly do so and thereby Increase his sales, there Is no possible Incentive to "throw" a race, as it has been charged many times they sometimes do on horse racetracks. That organized gambling of the French pool or the hookmaklng variety will ever bo carried on in connection with auto racing is highly improbable. Even the most feckless, most superstitious gam bler, ready to risk his all upon tips and dreams and "hunches." would balk at betting tipon the speed of a machine, since were large sums to be dependent upon the result. of any given race. Jt would be Infiinllely easier to manipulate an automobile than to pull a horse. No driver or Jockey can do fhls without great risk of discovery "by th specta tors. But the chauffeur -would have io trouble whatever lu modifying his sup - -TrTiaMif- nrirTTII' T i i i i'h m V- 3arr ply of gas with a movement of the hand so slight as to be quite Imper ceptible to the onlookers so that his machine might come In second, third or oven last, or he might purposely "lose control" at a critical moment and nobody would ever be the wiser. In auto road racing, especially, even tne judge would be, unuble to detect crooked work by a crooked chauffeur and if- organized gambling on auto races were once established, the bet tors would be far more at the mercy of the auto drivers than they are at the mercy of the jockeys and the men who sit in the sulkeys. It Is no disparagement to cither sort of racegoers to say that the difference between those who go to sec horse races and autoraccs is radical. All sorts of conditions of men and women, except the very serious minded; the rich, the poor, the well-to-do. and those -who cam enough each week to keep the pot boiling comfortably, but with little or no surplus cash at the end of the -week, are to be seen at the horseraces. They get to the truck by all sorts of public conveyances, trol leys, steam and third-rail electric roads and stages. Some go In carriages and autos to be sure, but so large Is the gross attendance that their number is relatively small. Arrived at the track, a large per centage of the racegoers busy them selves at once with the odds and lay their bets. These things are so ab sorbing and call for so much thought that they are overly serious by tho time the racing is well started. There Is always a percentage of happy, light hearted spectators on the field and in the stands, of course. But the pro portion to whom the betting and not the fun of watching the game is fore most is always large aud naturally made up of anxious Individuals who can't afford to lose what they have bet. It Is rare that . the majority at a horserace Join In tho cheering, even at the conclusion of a race, for the majority are almost always losers as a matter of course, and losers, even good ones, find it hard to display en thusiasm -when luck goes against them. The atmosphere of the auto road race crowd Is of another brand alto- gether. First of alt. the Individuals making un the crowd are different. They have more money, a good deal more money. Individually, though per haps not always collectively, because the horserace crowd ia generally much larger than the autorace crowd. As they are not buying pools or making bets with the bookies, 'the folks who go to see the autos make records form a much Ughtcn-hcarted throng, and, of course, they spend a lot more individually on cold bottles, hot birds and the like, to help along the gaiety of the occasion. The autorace crowd cheers every winner, -whoever he may be; every loser, too, for that matter, ir it ap pears that he has 'done his best, and the result is decidedly Inspiriting to the mere onlooker, who neither makes aut nor owns nor races them, but has simply dropped around." so to speak, that he, awy see th, auto-cn-tHHslasls' life as thejcllve It. Certainly tat i?re!n that the r i Tmmiiiw in i ii i ' tiv ..... .--r-jr a . - 'iKflAVl ' autorace crowd makes is that of opu lence. It isn't probable, of course, that the majority of the 100.000 people who went-tJht to Long Island to see the Vanderbilt cup races last Fall were more than fairly well-to-do. while there were surely many who weren't well off at all. But the per centage of those who went In their own autos. coaches and carriages, was large enough to give the crowd a truly auriferous semblance; those who had money to spend without feeling the expense did so with such freedom that most everybody else "blew himself" also, and it would beggar the most facile pen to describe the result with fidelity. At the same time everything con spired to prevent the peculiar nervous tension so noticeable among the bet tors with slender purses at a horse race. Don't Imagine that there's no ten sion at an auto roadrace. though. There. Is, there is, indeed; but "It's dif ferent. All auto roadraces to date h,avc had to be run early In the morning, the first starters at last Fall's Vanderbilt race, for instance, getting away at 6.31, soon after it was light enough to see. Consequently a big part of the crowd is always on band the night before. In deed the gathering thereof begins days ahead, becomes strenuous 4S hours In ad vance and continues with ever-Increasing strenuoslty all through the preceding day and night. The night before the last Vanderbilt cup race at Krug's little ho tel, Mincola, was a night no one who en dured It Is likely ever to forget- Those who had secured sleeping accom modations In advance had a hard enough time, for the rooms were not like those at the "Waldorf, and It wasn't easy to sleep because of the relentless hubbub made by the constantly arriving newcomers. Their automobiles were continually tooting their devilish horns and sounding their even more demoniacal, evilly mis named Gabriel's trumps, -and their chauf feurs and passengers were chattering and gabbling with a volubility and a vol ume that most effectually drove slumber from all except those who would bo able to lose themselves In tho midst of a boiler shop's clangor. All night long the hubbub went on. All night there was the popping of corks. All night there was the rattle of dishes, knives and forks. a3 the newcomers, half famished after their nocturnal auto trips satisfied their hunger In the hotel dining room. All night the rank smell of badly smoked cigars and the heavy odor of gasoline, ever growing thicker and more pungent, impartially assailed the nqstrils alike of those who could and those who could not sleep. The gray light of the dawn showed a strange-looking crowd to the members thereof. There were heavy eyes from lack of sleep and other causes hasty dressing, unshaven male faces and frowsy female coiffures. But everybody displayed interesting signs of the excite ment which Is an integral part of the modern speed madness. Nor was all the excitement due to the suspense as to who should he the, winner. Judging by the many auto road race precedents, some one was due to be badly hurt before the day was over, some one might even, h killed; and the xnnrchtnilon of accMeata was a decidedly JECra JnAHStlAII Ztf? !SfZ'7? rirr-rJ? J J Interesting factor of the general excite ment, and not the least relished, by any means. Last year this apprehension was not justified. In 1S01 there was a serious accident and everybody remembers how Frank Crokcr was killed last year at Or mond. The general Impression produced In those early morning hours at Mlneola was one of restless, hopeless confusion. That Impression lasted till, singly, in pairs and groups, per automobile, on foot and in all sorts of horse-drawn vehicles the crowd had disposed Itself as it liked to witness the starts and the finishes that would come some hours later. The excitement of the starts lasted a long time, for the automobiles In a road race don't start together, as the horses do on' a track, each striving to pass the others. A concerted start of autos in a race would be Impossible, so the ma chines. 20 in number, started at Intervals of two minutes, each being timed not only at the start and finish, but at various points along the road. It was only begun with the stnrting, however, being distributed over about 31 miles of road, and It reached its climax between four and five hours after the first start, when the autos began to make their finishes. Those who keep track of such things remember that the race was won by the Frenchman. Hemery. who. driving a French machine, made the 2SI miles in 4 hours. 35 minutes and S second, a new world's record, averaging a mile in every 5Sc seconds, or 61 miles an hour for the entire race. This was then the record In auto racing made In America, though not by an Amer ican machine. The cup Is held In this coun try, however, because for reasons there Is no room here to explain. France, which has won the Vanderbilt cup twice, refuses to receive It. and make a race for It. "Within the past two or three months this record has been bettered In Italy on the Brescia Course. Bagglo, who wOn the Florio race, making 311& miles, in four hours 45 minutes and 47 seconds, or at a rate of 54H miles an hour. The best auto mile on a circular-track ever made was reeled off on July 4 last at Morris Park. New York, the time be ing 4S4-5 seconds, by Webb Jay. with an American steam machine. The best track mile with a gasoline tcar was made by Chevrolet, the Frenchman, driving a French gasoline auto In 5U1-5 seconds. The best, track records for longer than mile distances were made In 1304 by Bar ney Oldfleld In California In slightly less than a mile a minute time. The coming Ormond races will not aim to better either track or road records, but to improve the stralght-away speed. In 1S04. at Ormond. "W. Kb. Vanderbilt. Jr.. made the best records, but one., as fol lows: One mile. 33 seconds; 5 miles. 3:313-5; 10 miles, 6:50; 20 miles. 17:02; 50 miles. 40:49 2-5. The fifteen-mile record that year was made by H. I. Bowden. who made the distance In 10 minutes and 13 seconds. Bowden's record of a mile in 32 seconds, made at Ormond last year, was not allowed officially because of his machine's overweight, but McDonald's of 312-5 wiped out Vanderbilfs. Should the record he lowered to a mile In 30 seconds, or two miles a minute, at Ormond this year, the figures will he mora than four times as fast? as were the figures com posing the best records of MaudS., the J l!i F-' Idol of most American speed-worshipers In the early eighties. Horse Still Popular Favorite With Racegoers. HORSE-RACING Is among the' o!dC3t sports in the world. For thousands of years it has been the most popular, as it remains today, and doubtless will continue to be until the end of time. Yet In spite of the antiquity of horse racing, the well-nigh universal craze for speed as we know It is essentially up-to-date and ultra-modern, if the terra may be allowed. The importation of thoroughbred horses into America began on a small scale In 1740. Interrupted by the Revolution, it was resumed immediately after the close of hostilities, but it wasn't until some time after the beginning of the railroad era that the people had moHey enough to support horse-racing on any scale ap proaching the scale of English horse racing. The first reported regularly organized horse race in the United States was held at Charleston, S. C. in 1734 on a turf course, as all races are run in England to this day. The next year one of th first tracks ever prepared by destroying the turf and making the 'dirt" truck as level as possible was opened at Charleston This track was so successful as to become a model for all subsequent tracks in this country, turf racing, so much liked abroad, being practically unknown on this side of the water. Notwithstanding the early introduction of horse-racing it was practically solf implanted. of course into this country, and In spite of the fostering care It re ceived at the hands of a few. It was nt an institution of great moment till more than a score and a half years after the American development of th "Iron horse" began. The country was just getting rich enough to support the turf fairly well In 1S60; the next year the Civil War broke out and the sport was again set back. Thus it was that horse racing did not come Into Its own In the United States till about 1S70: since then, however. It has had no setbacks except those Imposed by the many anti-betting laws enacted in various states. In spite of these laws, however, the racing of running horses has become a great institution In the United States, particularly In New York. Kentucky. Lou isiana and California, and probably as much money the real measure of enthu siasm for a sport as well as anything else is now spent upon the sport this side of the water as in England itself. That the best American racing hordes are the equals of the best British horses will be admitted even by Englishmen, if fair-minded, probably for the reason that the Derby.- England's most classic sport ing event, has been won repeatcly by American horses. There is no reason, in deed, why American thoroughbred should not equal British thoroughbreds, except lack of careful breeding, sime early In the Derby's history, the winner was brought to this country every sea son for several years for the Improve ment of the American stock, and high grade Importations have been kept up ever since. In fact as many horsemen will be surprised to learn, perhaps Dio med himself, who won the first Derby ever run, was imported to this country soon after the race was won. Yet there are few Englishmen who would concede an average equality of merit between American and British running horses, and It Isn't possible to make comparisons by means of records. On this side of the water the time of every race Is kept officially and with the greatest care, but much less attention is paid to time records over there. No offi cial time is kept at all of the Derby, for example. It Is doubtful, indeed. If there could be any fair comparison even wcra the records officially kept. The differ ences between British and American tracks, the former often hilly and always turf-covered, and the latter level and specially-surfaced, would render such comparisons essentially misleading. The American records show steady im provement every year; last year two of the standard records were equaled and one was broken, as follows: Roseben broke the- record for six fur longs with 147 pounds up, making it in 1 minute 11 3-5 seconds; Xl-amesha ran an even mile In 1 minute 3712-5 seconds, equaling Dick Welles record of 1S, and tCocIndcd. oa Page 41.)
