In considerably faster time than Ralph Mulford made winning the 300-mile race last year, Ralph DePalma driving a Mercedes flashed over the finish line nearly two laps ahead of the field in the big event at Speedway park Saturday afternoon.
Pete Henderson, a Davenport boy who just began to develop big-league class in the auto racing game this year, was second to be given the checkered flag by Starter Wagner.
Eddie Rickenbacher, formerly of Des Moines was third place, and he was clocked for the 150th lap just 1 minute and 47 seconds after DePalma had finished his race.
At least 8000 people saw the races
Good tires won the race for DePalma. He was at the pits for but one tire change, and that required only 21 seconds. Rickenbacker made four trips to the pits, with an average of about 40 seconds each. Taking out pit time, Rickenbacker drove a considerably faster race than did the winner.
There was one accident, and thanks to the iron guard rail which failed to hold Cooper last year, it resulted in nothing more serious than a fractured leg.
D'Alene, of the Dusenberg team, felt the right rear of his car go down sickeningly as he was in the center of the turn going into the home stretch on the 38th lap. The right rear wheel had collapsed.
He was high on the turn, going 90 miles an hour. With the broken wheel as a pivot the car whirled, striking the guard rail a vicious bat. The iron broke, but not until it had stopped the forward force of the car. The Dusenberg hung at the upper edge of the bowl for a second, then zigzagged down the track into the safety belt.
Milton, in a Dusenberg, was about half a lap behind D'Alene. He saw his teammate's danger, and deliberately pointed the nose of his machine into the safety belt to avoid ramming D'Alene's disabled car.
Both machines were tumbled over by the rough ground of the safety belt. D'Alene and Milton's mechanician escaped with a severe shaking. Orville Ellis, D'Alene's mechanician, suffered a fractured leg and was taken to Methodist hospital. Milton plowed up a section of the safety belt with his face, which looked like a piece of raw meat when it was over.
There were 12 in the race at the start, and eight finished. Eddie O'Donnell, in a Dusenberg, went out permanently in the 86th lap with bad steering gear. Chandler was awarded ninth place, tho he did not finish. Chandler was nearly killed in the races here last year.