FIFTEEN DRIVERS WILL RACE TODAY

Twelve Cars Showing Highest Speed Will Be Allowed to Enter Big Event.

ALL WILL TRY FOR POLE.

Showing in Elimination Tests Decides Places Entrants Will Start.

Fred J. Wagner, official starter for the Speedway races August 7, last evening posted a call for all drivers entered to appear at the track at 2 p.m. today for elimination trials.

The fifteen drivers will be given the speed requirements by Wagner and will be called in turn to make their trials. A minimum speed requirement to be sustained for a stated distance, probably of two to five miles, will be required for each contestant. While there has been no official announcement, it is likely that this will be at least eighty-five miles an hour and that the requirement will be that the cars continue at this speed for a distance sufficient to demonstrate that the car and driver are safe and competent.

The twelve cars showing the high speed requirements demanded by the starter, will be posted for participation in the big race. The car showing the highest speed will be awarded place number one and other numbers will be assigned in the order of speed shown. These cars will be positioned at the start of the big race in the order numbers are issued this afternoon.

Elimination Races Decide Places.

Next to the big race itself, the elimination test are of the greatest interest to the public. In the tests each driver does his best to be sure of a place in the big race and to secure the pole or favored starting positions.

All the elimination events will be electrically timed by apparatus approved by the A.A.A. and under the supervision and direction of Starter Wagner. All times will be official and if records are made, they will have official recognition.

Eddie O'Donnell, with his crack Duesenberg, 360 cubic inches piston displacement, will start this afternoon for a fifty mile record for mile tracks. O'Donnell was to have started last Sunday but was not permitted to do so because of the fact the safety apron had not been completed through one of the stretches. Bob Burman will try for a track distance record to be announced. Ralph DePalma will be out for an elimination mark that will entitle him to the pole in the first line.

Persons going out in automobiles are advised to turn north after leaving the Grand avenue paving and to follow the road to the Speedway marked by the big white signs with black lettering.

The Rock Island will have a special train leaving the Fourth street depot for the track at 1:45 p.m. A new bridge over the Speedway track for the use of shuttle train patrons will be in use.

The Speedway management will put on a price of 50 cents for all parts of the ground during the elimination trials and for practice hours next week which will be announced in the Sunday morning paper. The Speedway track will be closed to visitors all day Sunday.

Makes 104 Miles Per Hour.

Yesterday afternoon the track was alive with cars and had much the appearance of a derby day. DePalma was on the track as were also the White, Duesenberg, Clergy, DuChesnau and other cars. Many of the practice runs were clocked at from 40 to 45 seconds. Probably the most sensational performance yesterday was that of the Clergy car, a Des Moines entry, driven by Barndollar. This car was clocked for a full mile at a rate of speed equaling 104 miles an hour, or better than Oldfield's average for five miles on last Sunday.

Brown, driving a DuChesnau, froze a rod while going at a speed of better than 70 miles and involuntarily demonstrated the safety of the track. His motor stopped instantly, with the result that his car skidded and turned entirely around and slipped down over the apron to the safety zone. A little rest and a lot of oil released the bearings and the car continued in practice.

Several hundred people were at the track during the practice yesterday.

The new auto bridges over the back stretch, twenty-four feet in width and with a capacity to handle fourteen cars in or out of the paddock every minute, has been completed. This, with the subway, will facilitate the handling of cars greatly.

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