DE PALMA FIRST AT DES MOINES

Covers 150 Miles in Mercedes at 92.66 m.p.h.

Lewis Wins 50-Mile

DES MOINES, Ia., June 24 - Ralph DePalma won the second annual Des Moines speedway classic here today when he covered 150 miles in 1:36:36.23, or at the rate of 92.2 miles per hour, a speed nearly 6 m.p.h. faster than that of the Des Moines race last year, for a distance of 300 miles in which DePalma was nosed out of first place by Ralph Mulford in a Duesenberg.

Next to DePalma's Mercedes came the two Maxwells which captured second and third places. Rickenbacher, who was the only man to head DePalma during the entire race and who pushed him for the lead during the first 140 miles of the race, was robbed of his apparently sure second by a series of tire troubles late in the grind. But his teammate, Pete Henderson, was at his heels and picked up Rickenbacher's place just in the wake of the Mercedes. Henderson, driving a great race throughout, was second in 1:38:13.72, 1 minute and 48 seconds behind DePalma. Rickenbacher, in spite of his troubles, got the checkered flag just 1 min., 5 sec. behind Henderson when he finished in 1:39:18.72. Dave Lewis in the Crawford took fourth honors when he finished in 1:40:00.01. Joe Cooper and his Stutz were fifth and Ralph Mulford, Des Moines winner last year, with a Duesenberg, could not get better than sixth this year with Hudson Super-six which he is now driving. Galvin in his Sunbeam was seventh and Chandler, Joe Cooper's teammate, was eighth.

Two spills, almost coincident and the second directly resultant from the first, failed to mar the race which Starter Wagner declares to have been an ideal contest under ideal conditions. Wilbur D'Alene, one of the Duesenberg team, had his right rear wheel collapse on the last turn of his thirtieth lap. The car leaped into the outer guard rail, rebounded, struck the rail again and then tore downward into the safety apron where it landed right side up with neither D'Alene nor his mechanician, Ed Miller, injured, except for a slight cut suffered by the latter. Tom Milton, another of the Duesenberg pilots, was just back of D'Alene and took to the safety apron at high speed to avoid mixing with his troubled comrade ahead. His car spurned the rough earth of the apron and turned over several times. Milton and his mechanician, E. Rathbun, were both under the cowl and both came out unscathed. The accident, however, took all of the Duesenberg contenders from the field except Eddie O'Donnell, who was out in the 86th lap when his steering gear went wrong.

DePalma won by master work at the wheel and was more fortunate than usual for him in the matter of tire changes. He was called to the pit but once and that was in the 129th lap when his right front tire gave out. The change was made in 20 seconds. Rickenbacher was not so fortunate with his tires. His first trouble sent him to the pits in the 108th lap after he and DePalma had driven almost a neck and neck race up to that time. His second tire change came in the 136th lap and he went in for a new tire for the third and last time in the 142d mile. DePalma gained two laps and a half when Rickenbacher went in for the first change and he held a margin over his rival during the remainder of the race even though he was forced to the pits once during that time.

DePalma led with Rickenbacher pushing him at every turn of the race until "Rick" pushed his Maxwell into the lead in the 87th mile. He held the leadership for a short time only, however, for DePalma soon pushed his Mercedes into the lead position again on the lower turn of the 94th mile. During the early stages of the race Galvin and his Sunbeam alternated with Henderson and his Maxwell for the third and fourth places except during the time before D'Alene was put out of the race when Galvin held the fourth place.

Twelve cars went away when Fred J. Wagner waved the red flag at 1:50 with 20,000 people assembled for the event. DePalma and Rickenbacher at once took the lead and the great race between them was fought out mile after mile with honors almost even but with DePalma always in the lead until the race was half over.

Quick work was the rule of the pits. Dave Lewis and his Crawford got a new tire in 30 seconds. Chandler, driving the other Crawford, was more seriously delayed by spark plug trouble.

Eddie Rickenbacher turned the tables on DePalma in the 50-mile event which followed the main race. He went the entire distance without a call at the pits and his time was 31 min. and 9.17 sec. or an average of 96 m.p.h. DePalma was only seconds behind him, 9 of them in fact, although he had lost 18 sec. in a tire change. Rickenbacher's margin would have been much larger except for the fact that he had a bad skid in the back stretch. This thrill was missed by the crowd but was observed by DePalma, who knew that Rickenbacher lost time by reason thereof and who thought he had won the race until it was all over. A rechecking of the tape showed that Rickenbacher was the winner. When he had the bad skid in the back stretch he could not keep his car from the rough and cut a figure eight, but managed to right himself and swing back into his wonderful speed. The delay caused him a temporary drop from the first to fourth position, a drop which spectators were at a loss to undertsand because they had not seen his trouble.

The 50-mile event was, if possible, even a more exciting and satisfying spectacle than the longer race. Three, instead of two, drivers were fighting for the first place in every mile of the grind. Rickenbacher and DePalma were at it again and they were both being fought at every stage of the game by Joe Cooper and his Stutz who took the third place and who was a leader at one stage of the game until tire trouble put him back. Lewis and his Crawford registered again when they won the fourth position in the shorter race and Henderson, second man in the 150-mile race, was fifth, with Galvin and his Sunbeam registering in for the sixth position.

Of the $10,000 given in prizes for the winners of the two races, DePalma carried away the largest share with $3,000 for first in the long race and $500 for second in the 50-mile event. Henderson and Rickenbacher won $1,500 apiece and the rest was of the money was divided among contenders who won thirds, fourths, and minor positions.

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