Brighton Beach - October 1909

These articles are about the Brighton Beach 24 hour endurance race held in October 1909. This event was won by the Lozier team with drivers Ralph Mulford and Cyrus Patschke. Both these drivers were important figures in the first Indianapolis 500. Patschke drove relief for Ray Harroun in the winning effort for the 1911 Indianapolis 500 and Mulford finished second. This is not to be confused with the tragic 24 hour Brighton Beach race ran in August with Charles Basle (Renault) emerging as the winner. Brighton Beach also hosted another 24-hour race in July which was won by George Robertson in a Simplex.
 
The attachment Lozier101709 is from the October 17, 1909, Indianapolis Star and BrightonNews101809 is from the October 18, 1909, Indianapolis News.
 
Attachment Lozier101709 contains far and away the most substantive article. The article presents a list of the nine starters complete with car, its number, and the drivers that shared the wheel:

 
Patschke and Mulford were the big winners, setting a new record for distance covered in 24 hours at 1,196 miles - 19 miles more than the old record, also set at Brighton Beach by George Robertson in 1908. Second was the other Lozier driven by Cobe and Seymour at 1,169 miles. Disbrow and Lund brought their Rainer home third at 1,155 miles with the Burmam - Arthur Chevrolet Buick finishing fourth at 1,064 miles. Lewis Strang and Charles Stutz finished fifth with the Marion.
 
The Buicks dominated the race in the early going with Louis Chevrolet breaking records at every milestone. By the twelfth hour, he had covered 624 miles, a new world record. Moments later though a tire let go and Louis crashed into the infield. The most serious incident came when Charles Bowers threw a tire and plunged through the infield fence. Both he and his riding mechanic were knocked unconscious but soon were revived with only bumps and bruises. Art Chevrolet also wrecked in the third turn but suffered no injuries. The car was damaged and unable to continue.
 
Attachment VCRNews102609 contains an Indianapolis News article published October 26, 1909, that focuses on the strong performance of the Marion entry. This is the newspaper finding a local angle on the race story. The car reportedly covered 907 miles with Strang and Stutz driving. As a result of that performance, Charles E. Reiss (a distributor for the company) decided to enter it in the Vanderbilt Cup, which was fast approaching.
 
The article also reports that an Indianapolis-built Premier was being used in the unique application of operating on a railroad track. The machine was modified to use six wheels with cast iron rims to make this possible. Walter Chanslor of the firm Chanslor & Lyon in Los Angeles is credited with this design modification. The plan was to use the vehicle to transport passengers from a central California town also called Chanslor to Paso Robles, Stone Canyon. The two towns were two miles apart and the car had the capacity for seven passengers. 
 
Locals were enthusiastic about the new transportation solution and approved 22 miles of rail right-of-way. The area was a mining community and spur tracks were planned to expedite the transfer of people and goods. In a sign of the times, the "rail automobile" was seen as an upgrade from wooden wagons pulled by animals that took several times the hours of the car.
 
A final item in this article concerns Overland Manufacturing Company. Representatives had just completed a 7,000-mile, night-and-day, non-stop run. The car was a Model 38, regarded as a low-priced vehicle. The route took it through rough terrain, sand hills, and streams in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. That model was produced at the company's Toledo plant.

AttachmentSize
Lozier101709.pdf1.16 MB
BrightonNews101809.pdf210.44 KB
VCRNews102609.pdf476.95 KB