Judge — February 1934 — page 13: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

SWAGGERING Broadway come dian minces out onto the wooden saucer with a starter’s gun in his hand. Flashlights explode, the loudspeaker blares out the Star Spangled Banner, crack goes the pistol, and the grind is on There is something fascinating about this strangest of all spectacles, the six day bike race. It isn’t the sort of thing you can take in half measures. You either go for it in large doses night after night or you see it once, and go off muttering “Never again!” The grind, as it is more familiarly known to its addicts, presents the strange spectacle of twenty or thirty trained riding around and around on bicycles seemingly getting no athlete place wo six day races are held in the lison Square Garden every year. n, Chicago, Philadelphia and even Montreal also indul, But from the point of view of color, tradition and at tendance, the show at the Madison JUDGING ™: SPORTS Square Garden has them all stopped. In the old days when Stanford White's edifice downtown was crowned by the lovely statute of Diana the six day race held rather an unsavory reputation. The “Boys” used to go in when the race started and make their home there till the six days were up. But with the i of Garden things closed every ni tickets had to be bought for the next day’s session. Broadway and Society placed their cachet of approval on the grind, It became the smart thing to drop in at the around = midnight offer money the sprints. The appeal of six day racing is primarily ra- cial, the new e doors were and prizes for preme sport. The boys in Rome worship Geor- getti, the gr Italian rider, with the same fervor our own kids reserve for the Babe. The French riders, the Belgians and the Ger- mans all have their especial following drawn from the many foreign settle- ments in and around New York. As you enter the Garden and gaze at the big pine saucer, you will see, dotted around the track, the flags of many na- tions, These emblems float above the rider's bunks which are pitched right at the edge of the track. The modern six day race is mystery to most folk weird and wonderful system stealing.” When a team pletely circles the field it is called because com, a stolen lap. At the close of the race the team with the most number of stolen laps is adjudged the winner. Points are also awarded for winning sp sprint ts. These are held in three sessions daily In case two or more teams tie for the same number of stolen laps, then the team with the hi t number of sprint points is declared the winner, Not ver und, is it? But we sitting hard to unde: Suppose you are peacefully in your seat, suddenly a yell riders and see a scarlet jerseyed figure go shooting out to the head of the pack, his head bent low, legs pumping. front wheel swerv- ing from side to side. I ANTLY the Garden is in an up- roar. Trainers rout the riders fron: their bunks where the goes up, you look at y have been trying to doze while their partners rode-around alone. The Jam is on! (Page 23, plea comicbooks.com