Timing an Automobile Race 



The Mechanism of the Judges' Stand 



Here they come, snorting fire and skidding around the curve at a hundred miles an hour. 

 At such speed, is it any wonder that tlie judges' records sometimes become confused ? 



WHEN twciitN" or more racinn; auto- 

 mobiles lined up for the start in 

 the big speedway raees during 

 this summer and fall, Numbers 13 and 

 20 were missing. Number 13 was out 

 because no dri\er will risk his life in a 

 car with that ill-omened designation. 

 Number 20 was omitted because of a mis- 

 take which occurred in the important 

 Astor Cup race last year and which 

 temjiorarily reversed the order of finish 

 and almost resulted in the loss of $1,500 

 to the misplaced racer. This error was 

 made b\' misinterpreting the call 22 for 

 cars 20 and 2. 



Eight checks and double checks arc 

 necessary before the judges can decide 

 the final positions of all of the contestants 

 in a race. Few realize that at a main- 

 tained speed t)f 102.6 miles per hour, 

 which was attained last year, the cars 

 shoot by the judges' stand at the rate 

 of approximately 150 feet per second. 

 With seven or eight automobiles flashing 

 by the stand almost simultaneously 

 at that rate and across the finish line, 

 less than one inch wide, it is easy to 

 overlook one and make a costly error. 



To obviate mistakes, the work of 

 timing the cars is dixided into four 

 parts: i — Getting Knowledge. 2 — 

 Checking Knowledge. 3 — Calculating 

 Knowledge, and 4 — Dissemination of 



Knowledge. The first division. Getting 

 Knowledge, is the most important of the 

 lot, because upon this knowledge, and 

 the correctness of it, depends the 

 accuracy of the checking, the calculation 

 and the dissemination. 



The entire group of timers is quartered 

 on the upper floor of the judges' stand, 

 generally inside the track, just opposite 

 the finishing line. 



The most important man in group 

 No. I and the most important of the 

 entire timing force is the caller. This 

 man has notliing to do but to call off the 

 number of each car as it passes him. 



Directly in front of the caller are three 

 men seated at the shelf or table as illus- 

 trated on the following page. Each 

 of these men writes down the number of 

 each car as called on blank sheets of 

 paper torn from the pads and passed 

 to a \Msor who compares them. If they 

 tally, he then passes one along the desk 

 to two men who mark the numbers 

 down on the lap-sheet. This is a long 

 piece of paper nailed to the desk and 

 divided off into squares with the numbers 

 of the cars at the left. Arranged along 

 the top are squares, one for each lap 

 of the race. As each slip bearing the 

 numbers of the cars is passed to the two 

 men in charge ot the lap-sheet, the>' mark 

 down opposite each car number itt- 



753 



