FOR YEAR OF 1923
Past Season Has Been Great
One—Splendid Work
By Drivers
The past year has been a treat
one for automobile racing. Speeds
went up. a new champion was
crowned, and the new engines showed
that engineering has advanced a
great deal. Much was learned. Like
every other season, we lost some
men. On© of the beat pilots on the
tracks lost his life during 1928. Just
how I do not know, for I cannot un
derstand how our best men will turn
over driving at a fairly low speed.
But that Is racing. We have a list
of- brave young men handling cars
that can show 125 miles per hour.
The cars represent a big Investment
ln^ money for you cannot Just put a
racing car together—it must be
built from the ground up. Ten thou
sand dollars for a car Is a common
figure and of this sum the engine
takes the greatest single expendi
ture. Then comes the expense of
shipping the car, of the driver, me
chanics, parts, tires, gasoline, hotels
and so on. If the car does not win,
or If the car is wrecked the loss
runs Into many thousands. At an
ordinary race there may be half a
million dollars worth of racing cars
on the track, with the pilots driving
for a total of $25,000 or $50,000.
