DIRECTUM I 157 



secret the next season, that is, the portion of the public 

 which goes to the half-mile tracks, for he started his pacer 

 ten times and the summaries tell us that he was ten times 

 announced the winner and that he reduced his record to 

 2:0814? ^vhich was no mean performance for a twice-around. 

 Next year he was raced a few times on the half-mile 

 tracks and at Goshen set the world's race record for the 

 two-lap oval at 2:02'^, and that mark stood until Single G 

 reduced it to 2:01 at Des Moines, la., five years later. The 

 Grand Circuit was then invaded and in the course of the tour 

 Directum I proved to be practically unbeatable, scoring vic- 

 tories over the best in his class and reducing his record to 

 2:0214- It was a matter of keen regret on the part of his 

 admirers that he fell a victum to sudden sickness at Lexing- 

 ton and was drawn from his race after forcing Frank Bogash 

 to a mark of 2:01'^ in the opening heat. 



That campaign indicated that a new pacer was ready to 

 enter the two-minute list and the next year, 1914, he came 

 in, pacing the second and thrid heats at Syracuse, N. Y., in 

 two-minutes flat, breaking the record for a three-heat race, 

 divided heats. Within a few weeks he lowered his record to 

 1:58'^, at Detroit, and then the public knew the new star 

 had arrived with all four feet. 



This performance brought about the match races with 

 William, then a four-year-old, who had paced a race at 

 Grand Rapids in exactly two minutes, shortly before Direc- 

 tum I did the same thing at Syracuse. William won the 

 first of these races, which was staged at Grand Rapids, but 

 the miles were all three short of two minutes. Within a few 

 days the pair met again at Columbus and it was then the 

 world's record for pacing races was set at 1:58, Directum 

 I winning. Another match at Grand Rapids in the late fall 

 gave Directum I another victory and again there was no two- 

 minute mile. Meanwhile, Directum I had won the free-for- 

 all at Lexington, pacing the third heat in 1:591/2 and after 

 Grand Rapids he reduced the track record at Kirkwood, Del., 

 from 2:04% to 1:59^. The victory over William at 

 Grand Rapids was destined to be the last, for in 1915 

 he met William three times, and lost on each occasion, but 



