Bobbing

The Mount Van Hoevenberg bob-sled run at Lake Placid, N. Y. is no ordinary coasting hill. It is an ice-lined ditch 1 1/2 mi. long, twisting down the side of a comparatively small Adirondack mountain. The sleds that go down it are $400 machines equipped with steering wheel, brakes, and seats ten inches above the runners. They weigh 485 lb. and are stored in a garage at the foot of the slide. Such deluxe coasting is a new sport for the U. S. The Mount Van Hoevenberg run was constructed two years ago because the program of winter sports for the Xth Olympiad included bob-sled racing, hitherto practiced only in the Alps. The run cost $250,000, most of which was supplied by New York State. Last week most of the ablest licensed* bob-sled drivers in the U. S. climbed into a steam-heated tractor-truck at the bottom of the slide, had themselves carried up to the top for the start of the North American Championships.

For the first day's racing on stubby little two-man sleds, the track was smooth but comparatively slow. It took J. Hubert Stevens, who won the Olympic Championship last year, a fraction of a second more than 8 minutes to make four trips. The fraction--.21 sec.--was about the time he wasted steering back onto the track when, on his last run, his sled skidded at the last curve and one runner slid over the edge. Second and third places went to his brothers, Curtis and Raymond

Next day the four-man sleds were trucked to the top of Mount Van Hoevenberg in softening weather. Six other teams in the four-man championship would doubtless have been pleased if all the Stevenses--Hubert, Curtis, Raymond and Paul--had clambered onto the same sled. Instead, Hubert, Curtis and Raymond each drove a sled of his own, placed 1, 2, 3 in the first two heats. Hubert Stevens made his first run in 1:47.79, breaking the course record Curtis had set a week earlier. His second run--.01 sec. slower--gave him a scant 5 sec. lead for the last two heats which were postponed because of soft ice.

The bobsleds last week were mainly manned by Lake Placid local boys. Since the Mount Van Hoevenberg run is the only one in the U. S. and since it takes an immense amount of practice to become an expert bobber, it is natural that almost the only competent bobbers in the U. S. as yet are sportsmen of some means who live within a 20-mi. radius of Lake Placid. The four Stevens brothers manage a Lake Placid hotel which they inherited from their father. They win so many bob-sled races--last fortnight they took all the events in the national A. A. U. champion-ships--that impartial observers might easily infer that New York State's $250,000 served chiefly to entertain the hill-sliding Stevens brothers. But sliding down a hill is less a vocation for the Stevens family than a recreation from more vigorous exertions. J. Hubert Stevens is an expert aviator, golfer, outboard motorboat racer. Curtis is good at golf and motorboating, prefers the latter. Raymond Stevens pitched ably on the 1914 Yale baseball team. Every autumn all four Stevens brothers spend two months hunting and trapping in the Adirondacks or wilder Canada. Other expert U. S. bobbers are Henry ("Hank") Homburger, Saranac, N. Y., civil engineer; Eddie Eagan, famed amateur boxer; Baron Walther von Mumm, onetime "champagne king" of Rheims; Jay O'Brien, Manhattan socialite.

*Bob-sled driving is a sport of the type which insurance companies view with alarm. Last month a Swiss bobber, Oscar Geier, was notified that his insurance would be cancelled unless he gave up the sport. To prevent novices from breaking their heads, Lake Placid bob-sled enthusiasts last summer formed the Adirondack Bob Sled Club which teaches novices how to handle the sleds, issues licenses for the Mount Van Hoevenberg run, maintains a staff of drivers to take passengers over the course for $1 a ride.

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