JUDGES DECLARE MULFORD WINNER OF SPEEDWAY RACE

Deusenberg Car Takes First Money in Opening 300 Mile Event Here.

DE PALMA FINISHES SECOND

At Early Hour This Morning the Judges Take Victory From Italian Driver.

ED O'DONNELL GETS THIRD

First Three Drivers to Finish Furnish Exciting Competition Throughout Afternoon.

At 2:30 o'clock this morning the judges awarded the race to Mulford and ranked De Palma second. Mulford's official time was announced as 3:27:05.35. De Palma's time was 3:28:12.02. The Official time shows mulford's average speed was 87 miles per hour.

The 300 mile speed derby, the first big event held on the Des Moines Speedway, was won yesterday by Ralph De Palma, Stutz pilot, who drove the distance in three hours, twenty-eight minutes and fifty-two seconds, or at a little better rate than 86 miles an hour. This was the unofficial announcement of the technical committee immediately following the race.

But the technical committee's ruling was a suprise both to spectators and the men who operated the lap-checking machine across the track from the starter's stand. Interpreting the result from the showing of this machine Ralph Mulford, who drove a Duesenberg, would appear to be the winner, by the major portion of a lap, over De Palma.

Mulford May Be Winner.

The technical committee, which is headed by G. Decker French of Davenport, representatives of the A.A.A. contest board, was in session nearly all of last night at the Chamberlain hotel checking over the time tape, upon which every move of the race is recorded, and making a new score sheet. The official announcement of the winner will be withheld until this new score sheet is completed, and members of the board admit freely that the unofficial decision, made from judges' temporary records, may be wrong.

The history of the race is one of trips to the pit. Early in the race the preponderance of the trouble was with tires; after 200 miles practically all of it was with motors, which were balking at the strain imposed on them.

Lombardi Quits Early.

It is strange that one of the most exciting races of the entire event should have occurred in the pits, but it is the case. In the 220th lap, O'Donnell leading and DePalma only a half a lap behind him, came to the pits almost together with flat tires. The battle was between the pit attendants to see who could first get their car into shape to continue the race. O'Donnell pulled out a fraction of a second before his chief rival, but was passed by DePalma in the back stretch of the 221st lap.

The race was started promptly at 1:30 o'clock, the cars moving out in pairs about fifty feet apart, DePalma and Cooper leading. At the end of one preliminary lap Starter Edwards gave them the white flag, and the race was on, Cooper, DePalma, O'Donnell and Chandler well bunched in the lead.

Lombardi pulled his O.C. special out of the race at the end of the eighth lap on account of irreprable engine trouble. Chandler slowly fell back during the first fifteen laps, leaving Cooper, DePalma and O'Donnell to fight it out for the lead. This condition was maitained until the thirty-seventh lap, when Cooper went through the fence to his death. He was running in second place when the accident happened.

Shrunk First to the Pits.

Shrunk was first to the pits in the thirty-second lap with engine trouble, but Chandler followed him in on the thirty-third to change a right front tire that had become flat. The three leaders were still without trouble, and DePalma was heading his rivals by a short distance a large part of the time until the forty-first lap, when he came in to change a right rear tire. This gave O'Donnell the lead.

He held a one-lap lead on DePalma at the sixtieth mile, and on the eightieth mile this lead had been increased to three laps. Mulford was one lap behind DePalma at this time, and Alley was following a lap behind Mulford. DePalma had been forced to the pits again in the seventy-second lap, to change a right front tire, and again on the eighty-second lap he went to the pits to change the same wheel.

Mulford Takes Lead.

O'Donnell had not been to the pits yet, and he was leading by a comfortable margin in the ninety-second, when he was forced to make his first stop to change a left rear tire. Mulford, who had been running steadily, passed him, but DePalma, who was handicapped by still another trip to the pits for tire trouble in the ninety-eighth lap, had not made up his lost time in the 100th mile.

At the one hundredth lap Mulford was leading, O'Donnell was second and DePalma was third, Chandler coming in fourth place and Alley in fifth. Mulford had not been to the pits yet.

The time announced for 100 miles was 1 hour, 7 minutes and 6 seconds. This makes the rate for the first 100 miles 88.6 miles an hour.

Bad Tire Fails to Stop Mulford.

Mulford went to the pits to change a front tire in the 105th mile, but he made a quick change and maintained his lead. At 125 miles O'Donnell was a lap behind him, and DePalma was four miles behind. In the 124th mile O'Donnell was at the pits again for tire trouble.

Mulford still led at 150 miles, O'Donnell being four miles behind him and DePalma being three miles behind O'Donnell. Then Mulford went to the pits for a tire change in the 157th lap - and lost his lead. At 200 miles O'Donnell was leading, DePalma was only a lap behind him, and Mulford was in third place with only 196 miles to his credit. O'Donnell won the 200-mile money of $100. His time was 2:19:36, or at the rate of eighty-six miles an hour.

DePalma's engine was purring beautifully now, and all four of his tires were holding together in encouraging shape. At 213 miles he had gained half a lap on O'Donnell, Mulford pounding along two or three miles behind. At 220 laps he was right behind him, when both he and O'Donnell were forced to come in for tire changes. They were off again almost together, but not before Mulford had almost caught up. DePalma passed O'Donnell in the back stretch of the 221st lap, and then, until the 269th mile, it was one of the prettiest races in history between DePalma, O'Donnell and Mulford whom were in the same lap.

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