Medford mail tribune., May 25, 1958, Image 50

Dawson roared past them and went on to win. Dawson lives in
the record books, but DePalma lives in legend as a man who
wouldn't give up.
As you co on 200 miles ... 300 miles ... 400 miles you
" know that money alone couldn't drive you to this. You
ache all over yet feel nothing. You seem numb to every
thing but danger, and danger rides like a ghostly presence on
your tailpipe. It offers the eternal choice of the 500: opportunity
or disaster. The winners of the 500 the live ones are the men
who can seize the first while skirting the second.
Back in the days when the cars still carried mechanics, Wilbur
Shaw was driving a huge old Dusenberg in the 500 when he
found four men between him and the lead just as he was enter
ing a turn. Suddenly he felt the car give four little prancing
sidesteps, then spin around like a top. Shaw and his mechanic
dived "into the basement" the space under the steering wheel
where drivers could seek refuge when their cars turned over.
The Dusenberg crashed over the wall, sailed 25 or 30 feet through
the air, tore down some telephone wires, and landed on its wheels.
Shaw staggered away from the wreck with only cuts and bruises;
his mechanic was hospitalized.
When he got back to the pits, Shaw was asked to take over
as relief driver in an identical Dusenberg. A few minutes later
he found himself going into the same turn with the same four
men separating him from the lead. The closest one, Shorty
Cantlon, took one look, thought he was seeing a ghost no
driver knew that Shaw had survived the crash and promptly,
closed his throttle to let the Dusenberg pass. So did the next
driver, and the next, and the next. Again Shaw careened into
the lead and again he heard the warning "eee-eeee-eee" of the
tires as they skidded on the turn. The car" began to fishtail and
Shaw's new mechanic slid quickly into the basement. But this
time the car missed the wall by a full quarter-of-an-inch while
Shaw stayed at the wheel and fought to regain control. When
the car was straightened out, the mechanic came out of the
basement, his face chalky white.
"If you think that was bad," Shaw yelled, "you should have
been here the first time!"
After the race, Cantlon met Shaw and inquired about the St.
Christopher medal given him by an admirer. Shaw, not a re
ligious man, admitted quietly that he'd carried the image of the
patron saint of travelers during the race. Cantlon later killed
in another 500 said urgently: "Wilbur, I wouldn't crowd that
saint too much. I don't know how much he can take."
Neither do you. By the end of the race, you're not anxious to
crowd anyone. A score of drivers have been killed in the 500,
and 15 mechanics with them. You don't want to join them. You've
learned .about the 500 and you've learned what it takes to be a
good race driver. f '
"In the first place, you are a guy with a colossal ego, said
Tommy Milton, a two-time winner of the 500. "You've read the
papers and you know that Joe Doakes and Charley Potatoes
were killed, but you say to yourself, 'Well, they were stupid or.
they wouldn't have been killed.' Once it penetrates your con
sciousness that it is dangerous, that you are apt to get torn to
bits, you are all through as a race driver."
Well, maybe you are through as a race driver. The 500 can
teach you many things about yourself in those few 'tortured
hours. The most important is something you can use profitably
on the highway as well as on the Speedway: humility. It may
save your life.
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Family Weekly, May 25, 19SS
17
Yours for the Joy of Baking
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