Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 303, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 December 1918 — WAR HEROES IN SPEED CONTEST [ARTICLE]

WAR HEROES IN SPEED CONTEST

Liberty Sweepstakes Classic Date Changed From Memorial Day to May 81. x < . The Race Over the Indianapolis Mo* tor Spedway Couiiae Will Be 500 Mlles For a Purse of 850.QPG. r ■ ‘ i ■— INDIANAPOLIS. Ind;—The Liberty Sweepstakes for a- distance, of 500 miles and a cash purse of $50,000 will be run. over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway course on Saturday, May 31, instead of May 30th, as originally announced. Popular demand by patrops of the historic race track and because of a feeling that Memorial Day will have a new meaning to the American public, Influenced . the Speedway owners, who are spending the winter in Miami, Florida, to make the change In the date. The name “Allied Liberty Sweepstakes” might well be applied to the world's ' greatest automobile classic, because there will bq contenders of both drivers and cars representing England, France, Italy, Belgium and the United States. That the foreign entry will be large is confirmed by the contents, of a cablegram from W. F. Bradley, Paris,., who Is the foreign representative of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, stating that two Flat, =sars and three Sunbeams are available immediately for racing, and that negotiations are being started to secure the entries of these cars for the race. -

Sunbeam racing cars are well known tp the patrons of the Indianapolis track, one having appeared for the first time In the 500-mile race on May 30. 1913. Albert Guyot was the pilot of that Sunbeam, and he brought with him an Englishman named Crossman, as a mechanician. Guyot drove the entire 500 miles without relief and finished fourth in the race. The next appearance of. Sunbeam cars, entered by the factory, was in 1914, when two cars were sent across the big pond and were driven by Van Raalte, an Englishman, and Porporato, an Italian. The most noted performance of this team was Porporato’s finish in second place in the initial 500-mile race on the Chicago Speedway in June of 1914. Of these drivers-, Guyot is a Frenchman. He joined his colors at the beginning of the war in 1914 and for a long period was a driver for General Joffre and later was engaged in special work in conwith the motor service of the French army. Crossman also went to the front With the English army. He was captured by the Germans early in the fighting and no late information has been received regarding him. Porporato is an officer in the Italian army and has served his country with distinction.

After the announcement of the 500mile race for May 30, 1917, the Fiat factory at Turin, Italy, cabled its entries for two cars and named Jack Scales, an engineer in the Fiat factory, and an Italian driver r named “ Fagnano, as drivers. On account of difficulties in shipping from Italian ports because of the submarine menace, the Fiat officials decided to send their race cars by trucks to Bordeaux and between Turin and Bordeaux when they weia notified by cable at the cancellation of the Indianapolis event on account of Amer- \ lea’s entry Into the hostilities. The pars were Immediately recalled and /shipping arrangements and reservations for cars and, drivers tfcancellafi. It is known on good authority that Jack Scales has been experimenting with three new Flats ofl 300 cubic inch displacement, and that these, cars have shown remarkable s»eed in road tests made in Italy durinjg the progress of the war. It is said that these three cars represent the-'fastest ones of five built by the/Fiat factory some time during the past year, and will be available at this time.