SPEEDWAY DRIVERS AVERAGE 90 MILES PER HOUR IN TESTS

In Elimination Trials Yesterday Nine Cars Show Small Crowd Possibilities of Track.

DE PALMA'S TIME BEST

Famous Speeder Negotiates Five Laps at Rate of 97.5 Miles For Sixty Seconds.

EIGHT QUALIFY FOR BIG RACE

DePalma, Mulford, O'Donnell, Cooper, Chandler, Strunk, Alley and Brown Qualify.

There was a feast of speed at the Des Moines Speedway yesterday afternoon, at which a small but select party were the guests of the Speedway management at 50 cents each. Nine racing cars, each piloted by an expert were on the track, and when one of them circled it at a speed representing only about seventy-two miles an hour, he was regarded as a piker both by his fellow drivers and the crowds. The average rate at which the drivers buzzed about the big board track was very close to ninety miles an hour.

The reason the crowd was so small was that the Speedway company had not had very much time in which to get out the invitations.

Ralph DePalma had the fastest car on the track yesterday afternoon, but the racers of both "Wild Bob" Burman and Eddie O'Donnell were not far behind DePalma's in speed qualities. There were no new records made, although DePalma did five miles in but 5.6 seconds less than the record for that event, held by Tom Orr, formerly of the Duesenberg team. All the timing was done by Fred J. Wagner, official American Automobile association timer, and his crew. They employed the horograph that is used in timing all of the larger races, and which registers the time correct to 1-100 of a second.

All But One Driver Participate.

Everyone except A.F.Scott, pilot of an Anderson Special, ran at least one elimination trial yesterday, and Scott would have been in the running had he not broken some of the insides of his machine while trying to pilot it over the road to the speedway. Of the ten who ran elimination heats, only two failed to make the required speed of eighty miles an hour, and these two will have other chances to put themselves into the big race next Saturday.

Eddie O'Donnell in his Duesenberg was the pilot in the first timed event. He started out to break the fifty mile speed record, but quit after a few laps when he discovered that a torque rod recently put in at the Duesenberg factory, was to long, cutting down the speed of his engines. This defect was repaired in time for O'Donnell to put his racer through the elimination pace later in the afternoon.

Mulford and Alley Add to Thrills.

Immediately after hauling up at the pits and turning his mount over to his mechanician, O'Donnell climbed into the Duesenberg Mulford will drive on Saturday - Mulford has not arrived in Des Moines yet - and was spinning away again. Tom Alley, driving the Orgren that Barney Oldfield was forced to rent and enter here before he could leave town, also went out on the track, and the two blue cars indulged in an untimed, unscheduled hippodrome event that was one of the most thrilling of the afternoon.

Then "Wild Bob" Burman, driving his Peugot and looking very natty in his blue serge union suit, came onto the track, his name was announced, and the small but select party of visitors to the speedway gave him as loud an ovation as they could. Burman immediately started on a five mile exhibition trial, after two laps to warm up his car. Each of the first four laps was done in :38 1-5, and the fifth in :37 4-5, making his total time 3:08.33, or at the rate of 95.4 miles an hour. He wasn't at all satisfied with this time. He confided privately to Jack Prince, speedway builder, that this car was geared too high, and that he could have beaten this speed to death with a smaller gear ratio.

DePalma Shows Real Speed.

The eliminations then started under the direction of Starter Wagner, and seven of the drivers were given their first trials quickly, one after another. The drivers in order of their trials, cars, the time in which one lap was run, and the average rate of speed made, are:

DePalma's elimination trial in his Stutz, which came after these seven had been run off, was lengthened into a five mile battle against time. His first lap was considered to be the elimination, and he made it in :36.98, or at the rate of 97 1-3 miles an hour. The next lap of the five was made in :37.2, and the next three laps in :36.9 each. These last three laps were the fastest time of the afternoon. DePalma's time for the five miles, as it was caught by the horograph, was 3:04.65. This is at the rate of 97.5 miles an hour, and is nearly four seconds faster than Burman's time made earlier in the afternoon. The five mile record made by Orr, is 2:59.

The elimination trial of O.C. Special, driven by Bruno Lombardi, came next. Lombardi had a bad second as he was going off the stretch into the first turn, his car skidding and nearly throwing him off the boards. His time was :50 4-5, not fast enough to qualify. O'Donnell then qualified Mulford's car, doing a lap in :37 2-5 or at 96.25 mile an hour clip.

Burman's Car Blows Tire.

Burman didn't like the idea of being beaten out by DePalma for the five mile honors, and started to do another five miles in his Peugot. On the first turn in the fifth lap the outer rear tire was blown, but he succeeded in keeping the car on the track. He did the four laps in 2:29.32, at the rate of 96.75 miles an hour, slightly slower than DePalma's rate for the five miles.

Chandler and Brown, the latter of whom had failed to qualify the first time up, took their second trials after a motorcycle race of mediocre speed. Chandler beat his previous time by a little more than 3 1-3 seconds, doing the mile lap in 39.93. Brown, for whom Burman acted as a pacemaker, got into the race on this trial, doing the lap in 43.90, or at an eighty-two mile an hour speed. This was the closing event.

Eighty Miles Per Hour Required.

In the present estate of the eliminations, the rank of those who have qualified is as follows: DePalma, Mulford, Cooper, Chandler, Alley, Strunk, O'Donnell and Brown. The Clergy Special, a car built here, and Lombardi's O.C. Special have not yet qualified.

Under the rules promulgated by Starter Wagner, a minimum speed of eighty miles an hour for one lap is necessary to qualify. The drivers may have three qualifying trials, and may elect which trial they will enter the race.

Racers will be on the track every day next week, and two afternoons - Tuesday and Wednesday - will be devoted to the rest of the eliminations. The gate admission will be 50 cents each day this week. There will be no events, and none will be allowed to witness the drivers practicing today.

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