Bulletin Board Story of the Race – Motor Age – 1 June 1922

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Motor Age, Vol. XLI (41), No. 22, June 1, 1922

Bulletin Board Story of the Race

Mile by Mile the Romance of a Great Contest Unreels Itself Before the Eyes of Thousands Tense With the Expectancy of Daring and Disaster

SPEEDWAY, Indianapolis, May 30. – 9:15 a. m. – A calm, clear morning as the care-free crowd gathers and the anxious drivers wait for the start of the Tenth International Sweepstakes 500-mile race. The sunshine diffuses softly over the paved oval. It’s pleasant in the press stand, where all is a-bustle as the reporters prepare to bulletin the start to the afternoon papers, but it looks as if it would be pretty hot before the race is done. Barney Oldfield in his National pacemaker draws up in front of the judges‘ stand.

9:20 – The band of 1,000 pieces parades in front of the grandstand. At the head is a detachment of marines. Alongside the band several men are carrying a powerful radio transmitting set, so that the fans throughout the country who listen in by the air route may hear. They say that the radio fans who didn’t join the great throng which is rapidly filling the seating space here may actually hear the hum of the engines as the speeding cars make the laps and that all the announcements will go whirring to their ears. How the world does move!
9:35 – The band comes down the straight- away again and stops in front of the grandstands. Both Fronty-Fords are to run, the announcer says. One went over the bank in its trials yesterday, but has been repaired.
9:40 – The cars are coming out of the pits and lining up. Jimmy Murphy in his Murphy Special takes the pole position in the front row, which he has won in the trials. Ralph De Palma gets the first ovation as he drives his tan-colored Duesenberg to starting position. He lost an exhaust valve in a practice run last night and had to work fast to get his car back into condition.
9:45 – De Palma and Harry Hartz are in the front row with Murphy. The first salute bomb sends a thrill of expectancy through the great crowd, said by the announcer to number 135,000. Twenty-seven cars are on the track, ready for the start.
9:50 – Drivers and mechanics get to their cars. Four former winners are in the lineup Goux, 1913; De Palma, 1915; Wilcox, 1919, and Milton, 1920. Curtner’s Fronty-Ford, repaired after yesterday’s accident, is running, but is not eligible for the prize money. The engines are started, and there is a great roar as the drivers tune them up.
9:58 – Drivers and mechanics are in their seats, tense with readiness.

Hot Off the Tape
THIS chronological story of the race, written in the press stand beginning shortly before the race started and continuing until the finish, is based on observations from the press stand and bulletins posted or announced during the race. As the flash bulletins were occasionally in error, the minor details of this story are subject to such corrections as may be indicated by the checked official records of the race.

10 – They are off! A balloon carrying the United States flag, floats over the field and provokes a cheer.
10:02 – murphy gets the first lap. They’re strung out all the way down the stretch. The two Fords are last, one 30 feet behind the other. First lap, 1 min. 34 sec. Murphy gets the second lap. De Palma is third. Leon Duray second.
10:06 – Murphy gets the third lap, with Duray scarcely 30 feet behind. The Fords are getting farther behind.
10:10 – Murphy wins fourth lap. Duray second, De Palma third. Murphy has almost lapped the Ford. Murphy wins the fifth lap, having lapped the Fords. For the first four laps, 97.34 m.p.h. is Murphy’s average speed. He wins the sixth lap.
10:15 – Murphy wins seventh lap with a long lead. De Palma is back to fifth place. Wilcox slows up for a stop. Murphy still far ahead at the eighth lap, his Murphy Special running smoothly. De Palma goes up to fourth place. Duray is still second. Hartz is third. Average speed, 97.54 m.p.h. „Cannon Ball“ Baker pulls into the pit.
10:20 – On the twelfth lap Murphy is a stretch ahead. The Fronty-Fords are running consistently, hugging the in side of the track. Baker is back in the running. Position for thirteenth lap is: Murphy, Duray, Hartz, Mul- ford, De Palma. Average speed for first 20 miles, 95.74 m.p.h., as compared with 94.16 last year. Wilcox’s Peugeot out with a broken valve spring.
10:30 – Baker pulls into the pits again. The Fords are four laps behind. Thomas goes to the pits. Tommy Milton takes his Leach Special to the pits. Mulford stops with a flat tire. Cliff Durant goes to the pits. Mulford changes tire in 28 seconds and starts again.
10:35 – At twenty laps the order is: Murphy, Duray, Hartz, De Palma.
10:40 – Baker is in again, but his Frontenac is running like a truck. De Palma in fourth place is running well, but on twenty-third lap drops to fifth place. Murphy still leads, with Hartz second and Duray third. Sarles goes into the pits. Murphy has won 26 laps. Baker stops at the pits.
10:45 – De Palma in fifth place at 27 laps sits calmly and easily at the wheel. He appears confident. Murphy still has a good lead and is running strong. At 30 laps the order is Murphy, Hartz, Duray, Haibe, De Palma. Jules Goux’s Ballot Special out with a broken axle. Roscoe Sarles into the pits. Baker is running well again. Sarles lost 7 min. 17 sec. with spark plug trouble. At 85 miles the leaders have practically lapped De Palma, who is still in fifth place.

 11 – jules Ellingboe spun around three times, hit wall, broke right rear wheel; no one hurt. Curtner’s Fronty-Ford stops at the pits. Howard’s is still running, six laps behind the leader. At 36 laps De Palma has moved up to third place, Murphy and Hartz leading him, in order. Duray is fourth and Haibe in his Duesenberg Straight Eight Special is fifth. The first five cars are separated by less than a lap. The race has not yet been won.
11:05 – Murphy finishes 100 miles, having won 40 laps. The order of the first five is unchanged. Murphy’s average time is 94.07 m.p.h., compared with 93.74 last year. Duray slows up in front of stand. Fetterman in Deusenberg Straight Eight Special goes to third place, Haibe fourth and Eddie Hearne in Ballot Special is fifth at 44 laps. D’Alene’s Monroe Special catches fire; extinguished and car continues. Cliff Durant goes to pit with frozen camshaft. D’Alene’s car is pushed into pit. Murphy at 47 laps had lapped Hartz, who is in second place. De Palma is not among the first five. Sarles out 22 min. 54 sec. to adjust and drain carbureter.
11:20 – At 50 laps the order is Murphy, Hartz, Fetterman, Haibe and Hearne. Duray moves up to third place, Fetterman dropping out of the first five. Fords at 125 miles are nine laps behind the leader. Curtner’s car is back in race. Murphy is still a lap ahead of the next man, Harry Hartz.
11:30 – At 55 laps Murphy and De Palma are running together, Murphy being two laps ahead. They keep the same position on the next lap. The fans cheer. On the next lap Murphy has gained 100 feet on De Palma, who still shows wonderful driving form.
11:35 – Some of the tailenders are showings bursts of speed. Hawkes in his Bentley stops at the pits. D’Alene back in race. Lost 17 min. 25 sec. Changed right rear wheel.
11:45 – Hawkes is in again. Howard’s Fronty-Ford stops for gasoline at 51 laps. Curtner’s has done 41 laps, Murphy 63. Hawkes warned against driving in center of track at forty-first lap and permitted to continue in race.
11:55 – Joe Thomas‘ Duesenberg stops for water. At 72 laps the order is still Murphy, Hartz, Haibe, Hearne, Duray, the last named being a full lap behind Murphy.

12 – Murphy at seventy-fourth lap stops at pit, his first stop. Someone else will take the lead. Hartz is the lucky driver on the seventy-fifth lap. Murphy is in again after tire trouble and taking gasoline. He has taken $3,250 in lap prizes. Joe Thomas‘ car broke steering knuckle in sixty-ninth lap, and he is now repairing it. Murphy changed rear tires during his stop. The bulletin board order at the seventy-sixth lap is Hartz, Murphy, Du- ray, Haibe and Hearne. Hartz’s lead is 26 seconds. Duray stops at pit with broken axle on seventy-sixth lap. His car is Frontenac Special and was in third place. Howard’s Ford in pit with broken steering knuckle.
12:08 – Murphy in pit again on seventy- eighth lap. De Paola takes second place and Murphy goes to fourth. Hartz still leading. Mulford moves up to fifth place, displacing Hearne. The four leaders are less than a lap apart at 200 miles. Sarles to the pits. At 200 miles average speed is 93.52, compared with 93.66 last year. The order is Hartz, Da Paola, Haibe, Murphy, Hearne, Mulford, Fetterman, De Palma, Wonderlich, Klein. Time, 2:08:18.79.
12:17 – De Paola takes the lead at eighty-fourth lap. Hartz is second, Haibe third, Murphy fourth and Mulford fifth. De Paola is driving the same car which won last year. Hartz on the eighty-fifth lap is half a car length behind De Paola. They’re driving hard for the lead. Hartz takes the lead in eighty-sixth lap.
12:25 – Hartz gains on the next lap. De Paola at eighty-eighth lap stops for gas and oil and tire change. Murphy is maintaining his position in third place. Haibe goes to second place and Fetterman goes into fifth. The order of the first five in the ninetieth lap: Hartz, Haibe, Murphy, Mulford, Fetterman. At 225 miles Hartz leads. Time, 2:23:45. Average speed 93.91 m.p.h., as compared with 93.66 last year. The four leaders are still in the same lap. A stop for gas would put any one of the leaders back of fifth place. Curtner’s Ford makes 84 m.p.h. in sixty-seventh lap.
12:35 – murphy goes to second place, Hearne to third, Fetterman is fourth and Mulford drops to fifth. The four leaders still in the same lap. They are fighting for position and running fast, in ninety-seventh lap. They are nearing the half-way mark of 250 miles.
12:43 – The race is half over, with Hartz still in the lead. De Palma stops at pit. Time, 2:39:11. Average speed, 94.23 m.p.h., as compared with 93.53 last year. The order is: Hartz, Murphy, Hearne, Fetterman, Mulford, Haibe, De Paola, De Palma, Wonder- lich, Klein. Haibe, in fifth place, is two laps behind Hartz. Fetterman, in fourth place, is one lap behind. They are making good time. De Palma changed spark plugs in the one hundredth lap. Duray back in race after being out 44 minutes replacing rear axle shaft. Fetterman, in 106th lap, stops at pit. In 107th lap lead of Hartz over Murphy is one minute 25 sec. Wonderlich changed wheel and took gas in 2 min. 30 sec.

1:00 – In the 110th lap Haibe, in fourth place, is two laps behind Hartz. Murphy and Hearne are fighting hard to overtake the leader. De Paola displaces Fetterman in fifth place. Both Fronty-Fords are running consistently, though dropping farther and farther behind the leader. Tommy Milton’s Leach Special dropped out of race in its forty-fourth lap with gas tank trouble. De Paola in 111th lap hit wall and limped in with flat tire and wobbly right rear wheel. Is out of race.
1:10 – Phil Shafer driving for Fetterman, whose car is in fourth place at 118 laps. Hartz stops at pit in 119th lap. Murphy now in the lead, having regained position he held throughout the early part of the race. The first five: Murphy, Hartz, Haibe, Hearne, Fetterman. Officially announced that Murphy has been leading the race throughout, despite apparent lead of Hartz, as bulletined, for a number of laps. Official check of time tape disclosed error.
1:20 – murphy leads in the 123rd lap and the next four in order are: Haibe, Hearne, Hartz and Fetterman. Duray to the pit again with broken axle. Time for 300 miles, 3:10:44.05. Average speed, 94.54 m.p.h.; last year 90.36. Order: Murphy, Hartz, Haibe, Hearne, Fetterman, Mulford, Alley, Wonderlich, Corum, De Palma. At 126th lap of leader, Haibe, in second place, is two laps behind Murphy. Murphy is making wonderful time, as the average speed as compared with last year shows. De Palma is driving masterfully and coolly but does not seem able to gain.
1:30 – Haibe, holding second place at 130 laps, stops at pit for oil and water. Time for 325 miles, 3:27:10. Average speed, 94.12 m.p.h.;. last year, 90.33 m.p.h. Murphy leading by two laps. Hartz, two laps behind Murphy at 138 laps, has taken second place, Haibe dropping to fourth. Hearne is third and Fetterman is fifth. Murphy is driving at great speed and endeavor-ng to hold the lead which now ap- pears fairly safe for him. The third car is three laps behind Murphy and the fifth is four laps behind.
1:45 – Time for 350 miles, 3:42:51. Average speed, 94.23 m.p.h.; last year, 90.22. At 147th lap, being two laps in the lead, Murphy pulls into pit, changes tire and takes on gas in 38 seconds, retains first place. The order at 350 miles: Murphy, Hartz, Hearne, Haibe, Fetterman, Mulford, Alley, Wonderlich, Corum, De Palma. With 55 laps to go the leaders are pushing their cars, apparently to the limit. Heat waves are dancing on the long stretches of pavement, but the drivers are enduring well. Hartz creeps up and is only one lap behind Murphy. A fighting finish is in sight.

2:00 – With Murphy at 150 laps the order is unchanged. Hartz, in second place, is driving hard and the slight-st mishap to the leader would enable him to go to first place. Time for 375 miles, 3:59:02. Average speed, 94.12 m.p.h.; last year, 90.34 m.p.h. The cars are strung out all around the track. Haibe, in fourth place, stops at pit. De Palma is turning his car loose and passing a number of the near leaders, but Murphy is going even faster.
2:10 – The race is getting noticeably faster. Murphy is not giving his desperate pursuers a chance to gain on him. In his 157th lap he advanced 300 yards in track position over De Palma. Mulford, Elliot and Alley stop at pits. De Palma stops. Hartz, still in second place, driving hard. The two Fords are staying, the leading one having 125 laps to Murphy’s 159.
2:15 – De Palma is back in, having lost less than a lap on his stop. Time for 400 miles, 4:14:13. Average speed, 94.42 m.p.h.; last year 89.68. The drivers appear to be putting forth every ounce of energy as the end draws nearer. On his 165th lap Murphy advances his car more than 100 yards with relation to De Palma’s position. Klein driving Leach Special in place of Frank Elliot. Baker’s Frontenac Special goes to the pit with a broken gas line. Fire department drives in under subway, diverting attention of spectators. Just a patch of dry grass. Baker returns to race.
2:30 – Time for 425 miles, 4:29:44. Average speed 94.54 m.p.h.; last year 98.59. Five leaders in order: Murphy, Hartz, one lap behind; Hearne, two laps behind; Fetterman, three laps behind; Haibe, four laps behind. Thus the five leaders are spaced at intervals of one lap. Murphy is 14 laps ahead of Mulford, in tenth place. The speed has been getting faster. They can’t do much better. Elliot again driving Leach Special.
2:45 – Fetterman, in fourth place, stops. Murphy at 180th lap forced to stop for tire trouble. His lead over Hartz is only one lap. He will have to work fast. Only 20 laps to go. He makes the 181st lap 200 yards ahead of Hartz, having changed a tire in 50 seconds.
2:52 – Murphy makes 182nd lap 500 yards ahead of Hartz. He is driving at terrific speed. Time for 450 miles (180 laps), 4:45:27.76. Average speed, 94.58 m.p.h; last year, 89.41.

SAVIORS By Homer McKee
ALL the brave men aren’t in the army.
Out there on that track somewhere around a half hundred men, for six delirious hours, will look DEATH in the eyes, poke him in the ribs, slap him on the back. – KID with him.
DID you ever ride ninety miles an hour in an open race car no bigger than a bath tub, with the sun frying your brain, wind crushing you against the back of your seat, ears splitting with the crash of cylinders – the track and the world and your past pulling back under you like a torrent of milk, and all the while the blinding glimmer of the stretch ahead-always AHEAD – rising up to slam you in the face?
It’s HELL, but a kind of happy hell that hairy men come back to year after year.
– Just like they re-enlist in the Marines.
WHY do they do it?
Confidentially, I’ll tell you. One of the boys out there, for ex- ample, has a new cotter pin he’s experimenting with – he wants to know if it will HOLD. Here’s how he tells.
When the race is over, if he’s ALIVE
–  it’s a good cotter pin.
Another one has a new kind of steel in his steering knuckle that he’s going to find out about the same way.
„Dead“ – no good. „Alive“ – O K. Get the idea?
What it takes to make automobiles SAFE, those men are out there to DISCOVER.
Every man who steps into anybody’s automobile OWES HIS LIFE TO AUTOMOBILE RACING.
DON’T under-estimate these „race-nuts” – they are the GUINEA PIGS that take the deadly germ of ACCIDENT into their own blood and build up for us the ANTI-TOXINS that keep you and me and our families – ALIVE.

3:00 – De Palma has worked himself into fifth place, displacing Fetterman. He is eight laps behind Murphy and is in the same lap with Haibe, in fourth place. Only 11 laps to go. De Palma goes into fourth place, Haibe going to fifth. Murphy has eight laps to go and is speeding like the wind.
3:10 – De Palma putting forth every effort to work nearer the front. Hartz is now two laps behind Murphy, who has but five laps to go. Hearne keeps third place.
3:15 – Murphy has four laps to go. It is a tight rate between De Palma and Haibe for fourth place. De Palma is now about 50 yards ahead. Both are eight laps behind Murphy, who now seems sure to win, with only two laps to go and his nearest rival two laps behind. Elliot’s Leach Special is showing a marvelous burst of speed, running neck and neck with Murphy for several laps, but being several laps behind.
3:17 – Down the stretch for the finish. Murphy wins, but the Leach Special which has been pacing him stretches out ahead of him. Murphy’s time is 5:17:30:79. Average speed for the 500 miles, 94.48 m.p.h.; last year, 89.62. Hartz is second, Hearne third and De Palma fourth. The tail-enders are coming in. Murphy wins about $28,000 for the day’s work.
Howard’s Fronty-Ford had 162 laps to its credit when Murphy finished the 200.