4
DEPALMA—SPEEDj
KING DELUXE!
Says Racing Isn't Dangerous
Or He Wouldn't
Do It
"Isn't racing awful dangerous?' !
Ralph De Palma must answer |
this question at least fifty times
everr dav that he works his fast new .
"905'' or "299" in speed or on the ;
racing track. And every time his i
answer is the same.
•If 1 thought it was, I wouldn t .
"But don't racing drivers got hurt j
and killed?" suggests the question- .
or —people seem to Pave a cbuii-liKe
interest in discussing with the speed :
king all the different things that
might happen to him.
"Yes, they do —but only when nc- i
cidents occur," is De Palma s repl> • j
By which he means that every j
mishap in his own speed career has i
been definitely traceable to an acci
dent—a tire "blew," a bolt new .
through the raditor, something like ,
that. But something is just as likely
to happen while father is climbing •
up the step-ladder with a length ot ;
stove pipe, De Palma points out, and
for that reason he maintains that .
step-ladders are dangerous, anil :
father is apt to have an accident no ,
less than the automobile racing, j
driver. In fact, the probabilities are j
very much against heads of families ; -
climbing step-ladders, as compared i
with speed kings meeting disaster, I
because the latter are lew in num
ber, and people who climb step- }
ladders are a multitude. i
As an illustration that racing j 1
drivers can be careful, De Palma ;
cites the 100 per cent record of his j
friend, Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, !
the former auto racing star, who !
went to France in Uncle Sam's avia- j
tion service last April, and in seven
months of air fighting brought down
26 (Jerman planes. This was a
better record than any made by
American flyers in the famous La- ;
fayette Squadron, which had over i
three year's experience. Yet Rieken- ;
backer never crashed a single air- '
plane, or even broke a wing or a ;
tail. He brought down 18 Germans,
with one Spad machine, and ran i
another for 120 hours, though the !
average life of that type of plane j
was only 9 hours in fighting service, j
De Palma has been a serious j
student of speed for 16 years, and !
is now spoken of as a veteran. '
though he is only 36 years old. Still j
going strong, and faster than ever, j
His first speed work was as a bicycle
racer, a Hne that he took up because, j
athletic in his tastes, he thought it
would be good body culture. Then i
he graduated into motor cycle rac- j
inc. and from that to automobiles, j i
His first experience in the latter line j i
was in 1908, when he did a mile i i
in 51 seconds. At Daytonu, Florida, i
ill" other day. he did a mile in less I I
than half the time, 24.02 seconds, t
or practically 2'- miles a minute, i
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1. Stuart Shaffer, Distributor. 27 N. Cameron Street, Harrlsburg, Pa. James L. Riggio
SATURDAY EVENING, HAHIUSBURG TELEGRAPH MARCH 22,1919.
! These records are not exactly com
parable officially, because the speed
of 1908 was made on a dirt track,
with a racing car, within the 300
, cubic inch displacement limits set
| for racing, whereas the 1919 record
was made in a 905 cubic inch Pack
ard equipped with an aviation en
gine, built for speed, pure and sim
ple. and not admissable for com
petitive track racing. But as rec
ords of how fast a human being can
get over a mile of beach, and also
as measures of the development of
a speed king, they are certainly in
teresting.
No limit has yet been reached in
auto speed, says De Palma. Owing
to trouble with the official electric
timing device in Florida the top
speed of his big car was not put on
record. So lie hurried out to Santa
Monica Beach in California, deter
mined to bring out the utmost speed
that can ge secured from his latest
creation.
De Palma broke a record of nearly
8 years standing in Florida—that of
the late Bob Burman. who in 1911,
drove a big Blitzen Benz car of Ger
man make at a pace of nearly 142
miles an hour. Burman's car had
difficulty in keeping on the ground,
owing to the tendency to plane, due
to the terrific speed. But through
scientific balancing and also the
more even application of power from
12 cylinders, De Palma's car shows
perfect traction, leaving uniform
wheel marks on the sand. This
gives a basis for pushing on further
wheel marks on the sand. This
through higher power and still
greater refinements in construction.
Two and a half miles a minute is
going some, yet De Palnia considers
it merely interesting. For he Is
looking to the future, a period of
not nioro than a year hence, and
perhaps only a matter of months,
when the foreign automobile build
ers wilt have returned to peace pro
duction and developed new speed
marvels with which to again invade
the United States, As an American
racing driver, working with an
American car, built on lines de
veloped by our own war experience.
De Palma is glad to be leading the
procession today. He wants to see
American cars stay in the lead, and
is working toward that end.
There is a reason.
The car w hlch De Palma drives
today represents the contribution of
American private enterprise to avia
tion, as contrasted with the pro
ducts of B-uropean makers stimu
lated by government subsides for
war. The big 905 aviation motor
in De Palma's Packard was designed
by American engineers and built in
an American factory during the
same early 1915 period when Euro
pean manufacturers were develop
ing aviation engines to meet the
desperate need of the Allies on the
Western Front. It was complete
and ready for action before America
declared war on Germany.
So De Palma is demonstrating
more speed with his remarkable new
car. lie is demonstrating American
design, American manufacturing
methods and an American industrial
ideal, as contrasted with those of
Europe. And he wants to see Amer
ica keep the lead!
TRUCKS PLAYED
I BIG PART IN ARMY
; | Delivered Men and Supplies
j to Pershing; Two Prime j
J' Functions
' Trucks saved the day at the Marne, j
i they saved the railroads in America and I
'! they literally carried the armies of free- !
dom to victory overseas,
i I .
t In America's first days of the war the
i > truck manufacturers were summoned j
and told the needs' of Uncle Sam. They
! : responded with a willingness and an 1
■ output that soon choked the highways '
i between points of embarkation and such
t i factory cities as Detroit, Lansing and
' other western points.
> | Before the full possibilities of the :
I motor-driven freight car had been real- j
• j izeil. the high command of the American :
( army anticipated its supreme usefulness ,
, Iby creating the motor transport corps. '
i the newest and a thoroughly independent |
5 j branch of the service.
\ , Army engineers and. officials of the
• ! War Department had long been con
f 1 eerned with the question of transporta
' J tion by motor truck. The limited but
j indispensable service rendered along the
i border and over the barren sands of
' ; Mexico was the first conclusive evidence
f j of the passing of the historic army mule.
J The truck trains as employed during
' the Mexican expedition represented
motor transportation in Its primitive
j , mrm. There were no stringent road
, 1 regulations, no traffic signals, no In
( j spec tion rules or schedules for time.
( ] speed and distance between trucks, such
j as has been perfected in the new-born
motor transport corps. But the great
', American truck made good on the first
, | trial; it delivered men to Pershing and
I 1 it delivered supplies to Pershing's men. j
the two prime functions of motor trans- j
' portntion.
The formation of the motor corps as
' fan independent branch came in What
■ ! might be called the closing phase of ;
' | hostilities. It had not yet reached the
' j height of its attainments, nor had it
'■! :
I! Rettberg Brothers
428-450 X. Front St.
! Steelton
Authorized Ford Sales
and Service Station
r Auto Repairing, Battery Re
' i charging, United - States and
|, Goodrich Tires, Mobiloils, Texaco
• Motor Oils, Agency Gould Stor
,l age Battery.
BELL PHONE
• ——i
time to embrace the many opportunities
of truck delivery. The first great out
put of Government vehicles was made
up for the most part of trucks in the
heavier cIaRS. These powerful carriers. !
in fleets of fifty or 100, did the work
of twice as many mule-driven loads
in half the time. At Camp Johnston.
Fla., the largest motor transport camp
in America, these giant trucks accom
plished wonders; over every highway in
Amercia they lifted burdens from the
railroads, while the destruction they
carried to the Hun In France Is written
in the page of recent history.
But, just as in the commercial world,
there are some places and certain situa
tions where the nimbler light and med
ium weight truck is better suited to
the work. The employment of gigantic
naval guns in the advanced fighting
j tone, where mobility, quick handling
and rapid change of position is the all
i important consideration, presents the
sanie objections as the use of heavy
trucks in parallel circumstances.
Army men and chiefs of the motor
transport corps were quite aware of this
! fundamental, and a few more months of
j war would have seen a great demonstra
: tion of the value of the lighter trucks.
| Officers in charge at Camp Johnson and
, abroad were eager for a great fleet of
I lighter cars to supplement the heavy
[ trucks and go where the larger machine
! could not.
I Data and figures of service were gath
j ered from every possible source, but
The Liberty Six and
The Cole Aero-Eight
attracted MUCH ATTENTION at the show
Be sure to see them this evening, or if
you are unable to attend the show see
them at our salesrooms or let us demon
strate them to you. Both cars, the Lib
erty as a light six: the Cole as an Eight,
are proving winners in their class. For
looks, power and economy there are no
cars at near their price to compare with
them.
HARRISBURG AUTO AND
TIRE REPAIR CO.
DISTRIBUTORS
FRED VICKERY, MGR.
131 S. Third St. Both Phones
there was no single performance that i
so impressed officials as the sensational I
Journey made from San Francisco to j
New York by a Maxwell truck. Loaded |
to the guards with war supplies shipped ,
from Australia, en route to France, this I
i powerful light vehicle startled the trans- I
portatlon world by delivering its cargo j
i in 17 days and 8 hours.
Averaging 197 miles per day and en- !
; countering all the obstacles of a contin- j
i lions 3400-mile trip, this Bturdy light- \
■ weight truck surpassed all existing rec- j
i I ords of motor transportation, if. indeed. '
| it did not OtttdO the best effort of the j
] average freight train. Democracy ami j
. ! the motor truck are the two great and j
. i permanent outcomes of the world war. ;
i ! No commercial organization with re- i
. | turned soldiers on its payroll will retain j
. I other than motor-driven vehicles, for no
I soldier that has ever seen motor truck |
. performance will be content until such >
. economy and efficiency is a part of his ]
• employer's organization.
HARSH CRITICISM
' Alfred Noyes was complaining in New j
' York about a harsh crtic.
"This critic's work." he said, "reminds |
: me In its unsparing harshness of a Uia- j
| logue between two villagers.
" 'There goes Bill Smith.' said the first j
villager. 'Bill ain't the man he used to |
' be."
" "No," said the second villager, 'and j
- he never was.' " —Pittsburgh Chronicle- '
I Telegraph.
Mack Trucks
1 • - '*
AT THE TRUCK SHOW
In every industry MACK Trucks have mad: friends through their capacity for hard work.
Owners of MACK Trucks are the best of MACK salesmen. They recommend MACKS
because they know what MACK performance means dependable year round service,
hauling profits, unfaltering power and giant strength.
Built super-strong from frame to smallest bolt, engined to take their rated load any
where, fitted with special bodies, power winches, loading and dumping equipment
MACK Trucks form a complete motor truck line.
Capacities Ito tons, with trailers to 15 tons. Orders for earily delivery accepted.
MILLER AUTO CO., Inc.
B.F. BARKER, Mgr.
58-68 S. CAMERON ST. th phones HARRISBURG, PA.
Mechanicsburg Branch Lebanon Branch
52 W. Main St. 126 X. nth St.
C. Guy Myers, Mgr. H. H. Harkins, Mgr.