Text and jpegs by courtesy of hathitrust.org www.hathitrust.org, compiled by motorracinghistory.com
Automobile Journal, Vol. LXVIII, 67, No. 11, June 1920
Los Angeles Speedway Races Marred by Three Fatalities
THE closing big racing event of the season in the automobile field on the new board speedway at Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, Cal., Thanksgiving day, was marred by a collision between two of the contestants, which caused the death of both principals and the mechanician of one car. The dead are Gaston Chevrolet and Eddie O’Donnell and Lyall Johls, O’Donnell’s mechanician. John Bresnahan, mechanician for Chevrolet, escaped with slight injuries. The accident occurred when Chevrolet was in the 146th lap and O’Donnell in the 138th.
The race was for a distance of 250 miles and the prize money of $15,000 was won by Roscoe Sarles, who drove without a stop the entire distance. He led in every lap and at no time lost his position for a second. The race was limited to cars of 183 cubic inches piston displacement and was almost an exclusive Duesenberg contest. Milton, Sarles, O’Donnell, Miller, Thiele and Murphy drove cars of this make and Hearne’s car had a similar power plant. The other starters were Thomas and Chevrolet in Frontenacs, Crosby in a Patterson Special and Melcher in a Melcher Special.
Sarles jumped from winning laurels on the county fair tracks of Indiana to a big track star almost in a single season. He won no less than three of the major events of the 1918-19 winter season on Pacific Coast tracks.
Time Summary.
The time summary was as follows: Distance Covered, 250 Miles.
Driver Time Av. M.P.H.
Sarles 2.25.20 103.2
Miller 2.27.14 102.8
Hearne 2.27.27 101.8
Murphy 2.31.41 98.9
Chevrolet Was Season’s Champion.
The death of Chevrolet in this, the last championship event of the year, is all the more to be regretted from the fact that he needed only to take fifth place in this race to become the racing king, of the season. He entered with a standing of 2030 points and Milton or Murphy had to win first place to beat him. Milton was eliminated early and Murphy was far behind. Ralph De Palma, who might have given him a struggle, had not entered because his car had not arrived in time.
Gaston Chevrolet came into prominence this year when he won the Indianapolis 500 mile race. He was the junior member of the Chevrolet family and has teamed with his brother Louis and Arthur at the wheel of a Frontenac. Ralph Mulford and Joe Boyer, Jr., have teamed with Gaston at various times also. Chevrolet won third place in the 1917 Memorial Day race at Cincinnati and in 1918 went outlaw along with Barney Oldfield, Earl Cooper and Louis Disbrow, campaigning the western dirt tracks.
He was reinstated in the A. A. A. in 1919 and since then has figured prominently in nearly all of the major racing events of the country. He drove a Monroe Special at Indianapolis this year, where his earnings for the day amounted to $36,000.
O’Donnell’s Record.
Eddie O’Donnell, one time a farm hand hailing from Wisconsin, for years has been associated with the Duesenberg race cars. He was with Fred Duesen berg when the latter first brought out his race creation under the name Mason Specials. It was in 1916 when O’Donnell put up his stellar performance in racing circles when he was awarded the road race championship. His knowledge of the internal combustion engine and the ability to interpret race track performance made him a valuable asset to the Duesenberg team. He was teamed at various times with such drivers as Milton, Murphy, Rickenbacher and Henerson and always could be counted upon to hold up his end.
Accident Will Not Halt Future Events.
Officials of the Los Angeles Speedway association, commenting on the serious accident of the recent meeting, while expressing regret, said that the incident would not halt future racing events.
Photo captions.
Roscoe Sarles, Winner of 250-Mile Race at Los Angeles.
Gaston Chevrolet, Season’s Racing Champion, Who Was Killed During the 250-Mile Race on Los Angeles Speedway.
Eddie O’Donnell, Well- Known Racing Driver, Killed in Collision During 250-Mile Race on Los Angeles Speedway.
Left: Chevrolet’s car after accident.
Right: O’Donnel’s car after the accident.
Both pictures: Board Track racing – facebook