view raw text
I ; | j | | : i i : I j j I j WEIDEKAMP MUTUEL DIRECTOR Stupendous Task of Overseeing Derby Day Betting Rests Upon Shoulders of Louisville Man. LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 30.— Directing largest pari-mutuel betting department in America, if not the world, is the stupendous task resting on the shoulders of Erwin A. Weidekamp, superintendent of the Churchill Downs mutuels. Weidekamp, who is entering upon his eleventh year as superintendent of pari-mu-: tuels at the American Turf Associations tracks, Hawthorne and other courses, tomor-| row will have batteries of 194 ticket sellers I and 265 cashiers working at the Downs. | This staff also will include calculators and ; their assistants, approximate odds boards i operators, change-makers, money-room men I and a corps of men whose duty it will be to i handle pari-mutuels tickets between the j ticket room and the sellers. Weidekamp, a native of this city, had his j j training under Eugene Elrod, for whom he | served as chief assistant at the time of Mr. ; Elrods death. During his many years of service in his ; particular field, Weidekamp, now in his twenty-sixth year in the Downs employ, has devised many features, all of which have improved his department. Being an expert electrician, he designed and supervised the construction of a single unit pari-mutuel j machine that records the sales from a dozen ] I | individual sellers. Not only does this ma-Chine | expedite the sale of tickets and the ! recording of wagers, but it also is very help- ful to the player as it indicates the volume j i of play on all horses participating in a race. Weidekamp expects Saturdays mutuel j I turnover to run close to the American rec- j ord back. made at Churchill Downs several years i j i
