208 



RECREATION 



donald's mile of 34 2-5 seconds becomes the 

 new official world's record. 



If we consider actual records, and not 

 official ones, the summary of the perform- 

 ances of the racers looms up pretty big : 



9 New World's Records. 



4 New Competition Records. 



1 New American Record. 



1 New Middle Weight Car Record. 



2 New Steam Vehicle Records, 



or in all- 



17 New Records. 



Who shall say, then, that the outcome of 

 the 1905 Daytona-Ormond tournament was 

 not a surprising success. 



A great deal has been said and much more 

 printed about the mismanagement of the 

 meet. It is claimed that the week of the 

 races was selected without taking the tides 

 into consideration ; that the officials were 

 incompetent ; that there was no real head ; 

 that the participants were poorly cared for — 

 in short, that the success of the meet was 

 not due to the management and that the 

 only part of the programme properly at- 

 tended to was the timing, which was car- 

 ried out strictly according to Hoyle. 



Probably most of this is true, and it is 

 certain that the execrable weather and other 

 adverse conditions resulted in a pretty bad- 

 ly balled up situation, not the least import- 

 ant of which was a row in the ranks of the 

 A. A. A., which is the American Automo- 

 bile Association, the governing body of rac- 

 ing. However, the difficulties of conducting 

 a big international event of this character 

 in an out of the way locality must be re- 

 membered, and as long as the meet was a 

 success and all the records fell, the rest 

 of it is unimportant. 



The death of Frank Croker threw a chill 

 over the meet — the first few days, at all 

 events. This tragedy happened before the 

 commencement of the racing, while Mr. 

 Croker was driving his car in practice at a 

 high rate of speed — seventy miles an hour, 

 some say. In swerving his car suddenly 

 in order to avoid running over a bicyclist, 

 it overturned, and both he and his mechanic 

 succumbed to injuries. 



Had this disaster occurred during the 

 meet, when the programme was run off, un- 

 doubtedly the affair would have been sus- 

 pended. Mr. Croker was a fine, popular 

 fellow, a splendid sportsman. His death 

 is a distinct loss to automobilism in this 

 country. 



It was most unfortunate that the manage- 

 ment did not bestir themselves after the 

 fatal accident to Mr. Croker. The A. A. A. 

 missed an excellent opportunity to show, 

 not only what good sportsmen they are, but 

 what men. A mass meeting should have 



been held and suitable resolutions passed 

 embodying the deep regret which all felt. 

 It would have been well for every partici- 

 pant in the racing to have worn a mourning 

 badge on the arm — something to show that 

 a craving for sensational speed was not the 

 only thing to be thought about at Ormond. 

 But nothing was done. 



American drivers and American cars 

 showed up splendidly on the sand course. 

 Louis Ross, in his steam freak, "The Tea 

 Kettle," scored a big success and was one 

 of the stars of the meet. Driving his own 

 car, he broke the world's record on the 

 second day — time, 38 seconds for the mile. 

 He also covered the kilometer (about Y% 

 of a mile) in 28 seconds and altogether won 

 six prizes. The Columbia, Pope-Toledo, 

 and White cars did well, all winning prizes 

 and demonstrating the marked advance of 

 the American product and the American 

 driver. As to the last, it is interesting to 

 note that six out of the nine world's records 

 were made by American drivers, and a 

 number of the American owners of high- 

 powered cars proved themselves the equals 

 of their professional chauffeurs in driving 

 at speed over the famous beach course. 



The conditions on the Ormond-Daytona 

 course are exceptional, and quite unequalled 

 anywhere else in the world. It is a place 

 for sensational speed, and those who attend- 

 ed the meet went there to see it, or to make 

 it a pretext to go to Florida, balmy Florida, 

 which turned out pretty frosty. But there 

 was no frost about the record breaking. 



A number of the participants at the Or- 

 mond meet went to Cuba for the Havana 

 race, held the middle of last month. E. R. 

 Thomas was the favorite in this contest, 

 but did not compete owing to an accident 

 while going over the course prior to the 

 race. 



The winner was a Cuban named Carrica- 

 bnrno, driving a 60 H. P. Stripped Mer- 

 cedes, so the victory was a popular one. 

 Excellent time was made over the 100-mile 

 course from Havana to San Cristobal and 

 return, 1 hour 50 min. 53^8 seconds. Jo- 

 seph Tracy, driving a 30 H. P. Renault, was 

 second,, only 1 minute 32 2-5 seconds be- 

 hind. 



1905 GORDON BENNETT RACE. 



In 1899, James Gordon Bennett founded 

 a cup to be raced for annually and inter- 

 nationally by entries from the motor car 

 producing countries. This event has come 

 to be the "Derby" in automobile-dom, and 

 is -witnessed yearly by thousands. 



This year the race is to be held in France, 

 where it originated. Thery, on a Richard- 



