Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 117, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 May 1919 — AMERICAN PILOTS HOPE TO DEFEAT EUROPE’S BEST [ARTICLE]

AMERICAN PILOTS HOPE TO DEFEAT EUROPE’S BEST

The International 500-mile Liberty sweepstakes race on the Indianapolis motor speedway, May 31, will be the rubber contest between Europe and America to decide a drawn series of six championship engagements for the world’s speed supremacy fought on the huge brick oval since 1911. Each of the rival continents now holds three Indianapolis victories to her credit,, this year’s result being scheduled to break a tie that has existed since the last big race was run in 1916, three years ago. The first two 500-mile races, in 1911 and 1912, went to America by default, Europe having no drivers entered, though there were seyeral foreign makes of cars, Benz Fiat and Mercedes. Ray Harroun, in a Marmon Wasp, walked off with the inaugural event, and Joe Dawson, at the wheel of a National, triumphed over DePalma in his Mercedes the year following. . In 1913, Goux started the invasion of foreign racing stars that has persisted since, romping home m the lead with his Peugeot, and in 1914 Rene Thomas annexed another victory for Europe with his Delage. lln 1915 Ralph DePalma scored for America, breaking the tie, but in 1916 Dario Resta knotted the situation up again by breezing home in front at the wheel of his Peugeot. 'This year, therefore, will deter, mine Which of the two sides of the Atlantic is the victor over the long stretch of six years of speedway racing, not counting the two-year hiatus that resulted from the war. At the present writing it looks as though the odds favored Europe, because of the preponderance of stars m the foreign lineup, however, it takes only one man to win a race; and America has much faith in DePalma.