Des Moines NewsAugust 8, 1915
WHERE AND HOW ACCIDENTS OCCURRED AT SPEEDWAY
Joe Cooper was going about 87 miles an hour in his self-constructed Sebring Special. He was crowding O'Donnell for the lead. Shortly after he passed the stands on his thirty-seventh lap, his car threw a rear tire. He rounded the curve successfully but was unable to slacken speed. He shot around the track and as he passed the east curve his car shot suddenly toward the bottom of the track. He made a sudden turn, lost control and the machine crashed thru the railing to the grandstand below. The machine was demolished but it was believed that a broken steering gear was primarily responsible for the fatal accident.
Chandler was rounding the turn which runs up at a steep angle taking the top of the track near the outside railing on his 238th lap. He was fourth in the race at the time. In some unexplained manner, the wheel of his whizzing Duesenberg racer collapsed and Chandler lost control of the machine. The car going at an 86 mile an hour gait, crashed down the inclined board track in a diagonal direction into the wire fence at the inside of the track. The car sommersualted six times on the fatal crash into the fence. Chandler's mechanician, Maurice Keiler, died at the hospital.