In this Motor Age issue, the 1912 Vanderbilt Cup race on the Milwaukee Wauwatosa road course is described. First a general summary of the most significant features, followed by a „lap-to-lap description of that race.The winner Ralph de Palma is mentioned, as are Mulford, Wishart and Tetzlaf, as well as the late-race duel between de Palma and Hughes.
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MOTOR AGE Vol. XXII, No.14, October 3, 1912
DePalma’s Name Goes on Vanderbilt Cup
Mercedes Driver Defeats Hughes in Mercer by 43.3 Seconds in Classic at Milwaukee, Averaging 68.9 Miles an Hour –
Tetzlaff, Leading for Twenty-Six Laps, Breaks Jackshaft – No Accidents Mar Sport
By Darwin S. Hatch
MILWAUKEE, Wis., Oct. 2 – Special telegram – Ralph de Palma in a Mercedes car won the eighth annual Vanderbilt cup race over the Wauwatosa course here this afternoon at an average speed of 68.9 miles per hour, defeating Hughes in the Mercer Special by the narrow margin of 43.3 seconds. Wishart in a Mercedes came in third.
De Palma Hoodooed No Longer
By his winning of the classic today, de Palma proved that he had effectually broken the hoodoo that had pursued him so persistently until the Elgin races last August. In fact it seemed that the jinx had descended upon Tetzlaff today for the Californian, after holding the lead from the start for the first 200 miles of the 300-mile race, was put out with a broken driveshaft when victory was almost in sight, much in the same way that de Palma lost the 500-mile race at Indianapolis last Memorial day. De Palma drove conservatively and the average he made was almost identical with the pace that won him two firsts at Elgin, when he won the Elgin trophy and free-for-all.
Of the nine cars entered to start this morning, eight lined up for Starter Wagner’s signal at 11 o’clock. Pullen’s Mercer had been disqualified for being oversize. Five of the starters finished in the order named: De Palma, Hughes, Wishart, Anderson in a Stutz and Clark in a Mercedes. Mulford in a Knox special and Tetzlaff in the Fiat fell by the wayside, while Nelson in the Lozier was still running when the race was called.
Three in the Fight for First
The fight for first place was among Tetzlaff, de Palma and Hughes until the Fiat went out and left the Italian and the Englishman to fight it out to the finish. That it was a close fight is evidenced by the fact that there was only a fraction of a minute between them after the four hours and 20 minutes of running. De Palma’s time for the thirty-eight laps of the 7.9 mile course was 260 minutes 31.54 seconds, averaging 68.9 miles. Hughes‘ time was 261 minutes 14.24 seconds, averaging 68.8 miles per hour, only 1-10 of a mile an hour slower than de Palma. Wishart went the distance in 276 minutes 35.75 seconds. Anderson in 279 minutes 40.95 seconds and Clark in 291 minutes 39.75 seconds. Mulford in the Knox went only two laps when magneto trouble put him out. Nelson was so far behind he retired in the twenty-sixth lap.
In spite of the difficulties in preparing the course which, with the heavy rains, caused the postponement of the race last week, the Wauwatosa track was in fine condition today. There was not an accident of any nature connected with the running of the classic. The road was well policed, the crowds well-handled and the promoters seemed to have the affair very well organized. Stops at the pits were rare, as the tires seemed to hold up well.
Fast Time a Surprise
By reason of the excellence of the course the time made was much better than was looked for by the officials of the meet, although no records were broken. Tetzlaff’s fast lap of 6:15, equal to a speed of 75.7 miles per hour, opened the eyes of the crowd as to what speed could be made for one lap.
As de Palma crossed the finish line he was hailed by the plaudits of the 50,000 spectators gathered in the grandstand and in the parking spaces around the course. De Palma drove a consistent race and victory was deserved, coming for the second time in his career in the space of a few months.
Two of the cars in the race were equipped with wire wheels, and both finished with honors-Hughes, whose Mercer was fitted with wire wheels, and Anderson in the Stutz, which was likewise equipped with the same style.
Lap-by-Lap Description of Vanderbilt Cup Race
L. V. Spencer
DE PALMA in his Mercedes was the first to line up at the tape. Hughie Hughes in the yellow Mercer was beside him. Back of them were Mulford in the Knox and Nelson in the Lozier. The third pair consisted of Wishart in Mercedes 26 and Anderson in his Stutz. Clark, who disabled his car at Elgin, was at the wheel of the third Mercedes, and he, together with Tetzlaff, in the lone Fiat, brought up the rear of the lineup of cars. Pullen, who was to have driven Mercer Cup Race 21, was disqualified by the technical committee yesterday because the piston dis- placement of his car was below the necessary 301 cubic inches. This brought the number of starters down to eight. De Palma Gets Slow Start De Palma got a bad start and did not jump into motion as he usually does. Although his start was slow, he quickly shot away amid the cheers of the 50,000 spectators and the race was on. Hughie Hughes came in for an equal amount of cheers, and was off like a shot. The others came in for a like amount of applause and were off in the order mentioned without the slightest hitch. Tetzlaff, the last to start, was easily a favorite with the vast throng. It was as if they looked to him to carry off the Fiat honors for himself as well as for his dead teammate. On the first lap, de Palma, Hughes and Mulford were running about even, although Mulford appeared to be gaining. Wishart came next, having passed Nelson. Tetzlaff followed and was trailed by Clark. Tetzlaff tore past the stand, and made the fastest lap of the bunch, completing the circuit at the rate of 73.4 miles an hour.
Mulford passed Hughes in the second lap, but de Palma was still well in the lead. Hughes had tire trouble and was forced to stop at the pit. Tetzlaff gained on the others, passing Anderson, and making the lap at the terrific average speed of 74.6 miles an hour.
On the third lap Tetzlaff was in the lead, closely followed by de Palma. Then came Clark, Wishart, Anderson, Hughes and Nelson in the order named. Mulford was held up on the back stretch for magneto trouble
Mulford Out of It
The next lap saw no change in the positions of the two leaders, although Wishart changed places with Clark. The others retained their third lap positions, Mulford bringing up the rear.
On his fourth lap, Nelson stopped at pit on account of engine trouble. He was obliged to stop for 3 minutes on the back stretch for the same reason. Mulford was again forced to stop in his fifth lap for magneto trouble. The trouble proved of such serious nature that Mulford was obliged to quit the race.
Clark was forced to stop on the back stretch in his fifth lap, which put him in fifth place and gave his old position to Anderson in the Stutz. The leaders remained in their same positions, namely, Tetzlaff first, de Palma second, Wishart third, and Anderson fourth. On his sixth lap Nelson’s Lozier developed brake trouble which put him out of the running, although on the stretches he appeared to be going well.
On the ninth lap, Tetzlaff was still way ahead, his average for the distance being 74.9 miles an hour. De Palma, still second in the seventh lap, has covered a distance of 55 miles at an average speed of 70 miles per hour.
It was in the ninth lap that Wishart in Mercedes 26 succeeded in nosing de Palma out of second position. This Wishart held for three more laps, but on the twelfth he was forced to stop at the pit to change a tire. This gave the second place to de Palma again. All this time Tetzlaff was fairly burning up the course, completing twelve laps or nearly 95 miles at an average speed of 75.4 miles an hour, which pace he seemed able to hold.
Wishart Passes De Palma
In the fifteenth lap, Wishart again forged ahead of de Palma. The latter was forced to stop at the pit to replace a tire. While at the pit, he also took this opportunity to replenish his oil and gasoline tanks. This allowed Wishart a lead of 22 seconds over de Palma, these two cars furnishing a neck and neck race so far.
From the ninth lap through the first half of the race, or about 150 miles, Hughes ran consistently in fourth place, while Anderson in the Stutz, Clark in the Mercedes and Nelson in the Lozier brought up the rear.
As to the three leaders, no change in their respective positions occurred from the fifteenth lap on through the nineteenth, or the century and a half mark.
Considerable tire trouble had developed so far in the race, although up to this time Tetzlaff was not troubled in this respect. On his nineteenth lap, however, he slowed up at the pit to the dismay of the crowd. A left rear tire was replaced and at the same time water, gasoline and oil were taken on.
On his twelfth lap Clark lost time by misjudging his stop at the pit, being obliged to back up. He changed both rear tires and also took on gasoline. De Palma’s rear tire had to be changed on the fifteenth round, which consumed 39 seconds.
Laps twenty and twenty-one were troublesome for several of the drivers, although they made remarkably quick tire changes at the pits. Wishart took 28 seconds to replace a rear tire, a speed record for this operation.
Tetzlaff Looks a Winner
At the start of the second half of the grind, Tetzlaff looked like a sure winner, he being 7 minutes ahead of his nearest rival, Wishart. At the beginning of the twentieth lap, the contestants stood Tetzlaff, de Palma, Hughes, Wishart, Anderson, Clark and Nelson. This order held for the next lap, but in the twenty-second, Hughes relinquished his position to Wishart. The former was obliged to stop at the pit for gasoline, oil and water. Hughie, however, hit it up after thus rejuvenating his car and regained his former position in third place on the twenty-fourth lap. The other cars maintained their position as at the start of the second half.
On the twenty-second lap, Anderson was obliged to stop at the pit for oil and gasoline, while in the twenty-third Wishart had to stop to replace a front tire.
Tetzlaff’s average speed for twenty-five laps was 72 miles an hour; de Palma’s, 69.1; Hughes, 67.9, and Wishart’s, 67.4. It was in his twenty-sixth lap that misfortune overtook Tetzlaff, when the driveshaft of his big Fiat broke on the back stretch, putting him permanently out of the race. After going 205 miles at an average speed of nearly 73 miles an hour, he was obliged to sit by the wayside and see the honors go to one of his rivals, after it seemed almost certain that the race was his. Tetzlaff’s hard luck recalled de Palma’s fate at Indianapolis last June, and there was a murmur of dismay from the crowd when the husky voice of the announcer proclaimed that Teddy Tetzlaff, easily a favorite with them all, was out of the running for keeps.
Tetzlaff’s fastest lap, and which proved to be the fastest lap of the race, was his third when he completed the circuit in 6 minutes 15 seconds, an average speed of 75.7 miles an hour. This was 1.53 minutes faster than the average time of last year’s Vanderbilt.
De Palma Assumes Lead
Following Tetzlaff’s misfortune de Palma took the lead, never losing the premier position from then on to the end, driving the remaining 94 miles at a dare-devil clip.
Tetzlaff out, Hughie Hughes in his Mercer assumed second position. It was only a matter of seconds between him and the leader to the end. Wishart was now third, Anderson fourth, Clark fifth and Nelson sixth.
Excitement was running high, for it was seen that, should anything happen to de Palma, Hughes would be the victor. Only the time required for a tire change separated the leaders. De Palma and Hughes knew this full well. On the back stretch on his twenty-eighth lap, de Palma blew a tire, but this did not materially affect his time, he running to the pit to make the change. On the twenty-ninth lap de Palma led the Englishman by 1 minute 56 seconds.
Misfortune for Three Drivers
The twenty-ninth lap proved disastrous for three of the cars, although from the twenty-sixth on to the end of the race there were no changes of the positions of the contestants. After the twenty-seventh lap the list was cut down to five cars, Nelson in the Lozier in this lap withdrawing from the race because he was too far behind. Wishart was obliged to put a new chain on his Mercedes on the back stretch in the twenty-ninth lap, while in the same lap Clark, Anderson and de Palma were obliged to call at the pits for new tires for the rear wheels.
Again, in the thirty-first lap de Palma was forced to stop for a tire change, but Hughes in the following lap had to stop for gasoline and water, which practically evened things up. The other cars were still in the positions which they had held from the two hundred and fifth miles.
Although de Palma and Hughes were traveling at a terrific pace, their speed was considerably below that which Tetzlaff had set earlier in the day. De Palma’s average speed for 292 miles was 68.9 miles an hour, about 5 miles less than that of Tetzlaff.
Hughes-de Palma Battle
On the thirty-second lap, the Italian led by 39 seconds, but Hughes cut this down one second ‚ere another circuit had been made. At the end of the thirty-fifth, however, de Palma had increased his lead by 8 seconds. He now had the better of his rival in the yellow Mercer by 46 seconds.
Again, Hughes cut this down when after completing thirty-six laps, he was found to be only 39 seconds in the rear. Two laps later, however, when de Palma flashed across the tape winner of the eighth Vanderbilt cup race, Hughes was still at about the same position. The other cars finished in good shape. Wishart being the third to receive the checkered red flag, followed by Anderson and Clark, the latter had tire trouble in his thirty-fifth lap.
De Palma’s time for the distance of 299 miles, 2764 feet, was 260 minutes 31.54 second, making an average of 68.9 miles an hour for the entire race. Hughes completed the distance in 261 minutes 14.24 seconds, averaging 68.8 miles per hour.
Wishart’s time was 267 minutes 35.75 seconds; Anderson’s was 279 minutes 40.95 seconds, while that of Clark was 291 minutes 39.75 seconds. These speeds are considered good considering that the course has sharp turns and there are several grades.
Photos.
Page 5.
DE PALMA, VANDERBILT WINNER, AND PREVIOUS WINNERS OF THE CLASSIC – HEATH HEMERY WAGNER ROBERTSON GRANT MULFORD
Page 6.
DE PALMA, WINNER OF THE VANDERBILT, ON SOUTH FOND DU LAC ROAD OF MILWAUKEE’S WAUWATOSA COURSE – TELEGRAPHIC TABLE OF TIMES BY LAPS IN EIGHTH RUNNING OF VANDERBILT CUP RACE AT MILWAUKEE, WIS, OCTOBER 2, WON BY DE PALMA IN A MERCEDES AT 68.9 MILES PER HOUR
Page 7.
TETZLAFF, WHO MADE BOLD BID FOR THE VANDER BILT, BEATING IT ON WAUWATOSA HOMESTRETCH
Page 8.
BRAGG IN GRAND PRIX FIAT PRACTICING FOR NEXT SATURDAY’S CLASSIC – BERGDOLL IN GRAND PRIX BENZ ON NORTH FOND DU LAC STRETCH
Page 9.
PRACTICE PICTURE SHOWING TETZLAFF CATCHING CHANDLER IN FALCAR – ROBERTS IN MASON TAKING TURN AT CITY LIMITS