Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 127, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1919 — GLADIATORS AWAIT START [ARTICLE]

GLADIATORS AWAIT START

THIRTY THREE DRIVERS QUALIFY FOR 500-MILE TEST—BABLOT FAVORED. The stage is set for thf greatest speed carnival in history, the Indianapolis 500-mile Liberty Sweepstakes on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, tomorrow. Never in the finnals of speed sport has there been such an assemblage of international talent as is represented in the galaxy of racing celebrities awaiting the big Hoosier classic. - The foremost gasoline gladiators of the new world and the old will vie for speed supremacy on the greet brick oval, pitting the last ounce of their racing ability and the foremost examples of their mechanical genius against each other in the fray. A war of men and motors, the Indianapolis contest will be more than a personal encounter; rather a conflict between rival systems of civilization and invention.

The Indianapolis classic is unique this year in that it is the only major international event on the motor sports calendar, the French Grand Prix, which formerly divided honors with the Hoosier contest in this respect, having been interdicted until 1920. It will break a tie of three years’ duration between the rival continents of Europe and America, each having three Indianapolis championship races to her credit at the present writing, out of the total of six conducted in the past on the big Hoosier track. 'The American favorite for this year’s contest is Ralph DePalma, the speed ace of the universe and holder of all world’s straightaway and speedway records, including the world’s mile record of 149.87 miles an hour, made during the past winter at Ormond, Fla. DePalma will drive an aviation motored Packard of the same type in which he made his fastest flight, but of a smaller size, the same car .in fact in which he ran up his famous string of speedway records from one to six hours, with a grand average of 102.66 miles an hour for the total of 616 miles overtaken.

Famous European Drivers. The European fiel din the Indianapolis classic is outnumbered 1 by its American rivals; what it lacks in size, however, it more than makes up in quality, comprising every famous driver on the far side of the Atlantic who survived the perils of the late world war.

At the tip of the overseas phalanx that will hurl itself into the coming' fray stands Jules Goux, winner of the 1913 Indianapolis contest, and forerunner of the European invasion that has reached its crest .this year. Goux was the first pilot ever to win a Hoosier five-century without being relieved at the wheel, setting a precedent that every 500-mile victor has since been forced to follow. He is in the best-shape of nis career, having been in training at the speedway for a month prior to the contest, and will handle the speedy Peugeot in which the late Johnny Aitken was wont to vanquish all opposition. The dark bowses among the European contingent are the Ballot team, composed of Rene Thomas, Albert Guyot, Louis Wagner and Paul Bablot, each one of the world’s master drivers and veterans of the speed sport. Rene Thomas needs no introduction by virtue of his victory in the 1914 Indianapolis 500-mile race. Albert Guyot finished third in the same contest, Bablot dividing European road racing honors with the late Georges Boillot, greatest driver the world has ever known, and Louis Wagner annexed the 1916 Vanderbilt and 1908 Grand Prize on his previous visits to this country, besides finishing second in the French Grand Prix contests of 1912 and 1914.

Not to be forgotten among the European battle array is Andre Boillott, at the wheel of a Baby Peugeot. Though little more than half the size of the other cars in the race, this diminutive cannon ball is capable of a sustained speed of more than nine-ty-five miles an hour and is expected to make only one stop during the entire grind, to take on fuel. Boillott and his not win, but they .will prove a fruitful source of worry to the other entrants. Seven of the drivers who will face the starter have turned the track on elimination trials at a speed greater than 100 miles an hour. They are: Rene Thomas, Ballot, 104.7; Louis Chevrolet, Frontenac, 108.1; Louis Wagner, Ballot, 101.7; Joe Boyer, Jr., Frontenac, 100.9; Ralph Mulford, Frontenac? 100.5; Gaston Chevrolet, 100.4, and Howdy Wilcox, Peugeot, ,100.01. ( Drivers Who Qualified. Ballot, Rene Thpmas; Frontenac, L. Chevrolet; Ballot, L. Wagner; Frontenac, Joe Boyer, Jr.; Frontenac, Mulford; Frontenac, G. Chevrolet; Peugeot, Howdy Wilcox; Richards Special, W. W. Brown; Ballot, Albert Guyot; Packard, Ralph DePalma; Thurman Special, Arthur Thurman; Oldfield Special, R. Sarles; Duesenberg, B. O’Donnell; Chevrolet, Special, burrant; Peugeot, Ray Howard; Peugeot, Jules Goux; Ballot, Paul’Bablot; Peugeot, Art Klein; (Durrant Special, E. Hearne; Stutz, Earl Cooper; Duesenberg, W.

D’Alene; Hudson Special, Ira Vail; Roamer, L. Lecocq; Roamer, Kurt Hitke; Hudson Special, Ora Haibe; Hudson Special, D. Hickey; Ogren Special, Toni Alley; Shannon Special, E. T. Shannon; Darco Speaal, Omar Toft; Detroit Special, C. Kirkpatrick; Duesenberg, Tommy Milton; Baby Peugeot, A. Boillot; McCoy Spacial* J. J. MeCoy.