SKETCHES OF THE RACERS

Bob Burman.

Bob Burman, driving a Peugeot, the world's speed king, who was seriously injured in the Vanderbilt at the exposition grounds at San Francisco has shown his old-time spirit and lives up to the expectations of his many friends, and will not let a little thing like driving into a large iron post and wrecking a car under him, keep him from driving in this race. He is unquestionably America's hardest, fastest and most fearless driver.

Burman's distinguishing characteristic is his absolute fearlessness. Knowing full well the risk involved, he will cooly and deliberately take any chance. Bob came all the way from Tacoma, Wash., to drive in the Burlington race, and in speaking of it, he says: "I am looking forward to the Burlington race with much interest, because it occasions the first time in the United States when high class drivers can test their ability on a half mile dirt track. I expect the records made at Burlington will stand against any other half mile track records in the world."

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Eddie O'Donnell

Eddie O'Donnell (Duesenberg) is there with any of them when it comes to letting a car out at breakneck pace. In practicing for the last Vanderbilt race he slid on the slippery course and wound up in a ditch fifteen feet away. When picked up he had his head badly lacerated and seemed to be about through. The morning of the race, however, O'Donnell was on deck with the rest, his face swathed in bandages and one eye completely closed. Luckily, the race was postponed that day, so that O'Donnell was permitted to live for another contest.

In the Vanderbilt, O'Donnell nearly duplicated his practice perforamce, skidding around an S-turn and turning turtle, but without serious damage. The one big victory to his credit is the Glendale road race in California, which he took in fast time, considering the nature of the course. Eddie has placed several times at the Indianapolis derby and took second honors at Sioux City last week.

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Tom Alley.

Tom Alley (Duesenberg) claims the speedway as his home, having begun his racing career as car tester for the National company at the track a number of years ago. His rise to fame has been swift and meteoric. What he is today he ascribes chiefly to Ralph DePalma, with whom he rode as mechanician during the 1914 500-mile Indianapolis race. Being constantly with the famous Ialian and watching his every move, he learned the fundamentals of the game which later were to bring him fame and fortune.

It was at the dirt track game that Alley really came into his own. At Minneapolis, with such stars as Burman, Mulford and DePalma, he ran away from the field, breaking the world's dirt track record for 100 miles, and forever insuring himself to fame. This year Alley is expected to prove a sensation. He finished in the money winners this year at Indianapolis, Chicago and Sioux City.

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W.W. Brown.

W.W. Brown classes as one of the mechanical geniuses of the game, his car, which he built himself, embodying several new principles which are said to be in advance of the latest European construction. Whether his ideas will work out or not, of course, only time will tell.

In driving ability Brown ranks exceptionally high, though he has never competed in a major contest, the dirt track game being his especial forte. At this variety of pastime he has a record of seventeen firsts in as many consecutive starts, most of them, naturally, in local contests. His work through the 1915 season will be watched with interest.

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Joe Cooper.

Joe Cooper is Youngstown, Ohio's entry in this race. Cooper is probably more idolized in his own community than any driver in the game. Wherever he drives he has a following of the home guard to root for him several hundred strong.

The reason for Cooper's popularity outside of his ability, which is exceptional, is that he is one of the easiest men to befriend that ever lived. He never tires of of explaning the intricate details of his racer to the layman, nor refuses to back up his statements by actual demonstration. As a result, he is always surrounded by the curious, with more than one man his debtor for having cleared up some knotty point.

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Billy Chandler.

Billy Chandler (Duesenberg) is one of the best known veterans of the racing game, having been in it continuously for many years. He achieved his first real fame in the 1908 Vanderbilt cup race on Long Island, where he acted as mechanic for Ralph Mulford, winner of the contest. It was largely through Chandler's assistance that Mulford was enabled to finish first in the great classic. Chandler did a spectacular thing in the 1913 Elgin National race. He was acting as mechanic for Ralph Mulford at the time. The day was frightfully hot, and suddenly Mulford was overcome by the heat. The car was running down the stretch toward the grandstand at the rate of ninety miles an hour. Mulford became limp in his seat, and Chandler, grasping the situation at once, and showing remarkable head work, reached over, grasped the steering wheel and stopped the racer at the pits, thus avoiding what might have been a serious accident. Mulford was lifted from the car and Chandler kept on, eventually brining the car up among the leaders. Chandler is always considered a dangerous man in any race.

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Tom Ball.

Thomas H. Ball (Buick) hails from Coldwater, Mich., where he is engaged in the automobile business. Ball has competed in various track meets in Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa, and has made a good showing. Ball has looked forward to the Burlington race, and he expects to cop a prize in the greatest half mile race ever run.

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