view raw text
AURORA "TOTE" REVAMPED New Feature of Machine to Include Combination Tickets. Good Weather Aids Installation Work on Huge Totalizator Conduits to New Odds-Board Already Laid. AURORA, 111., April 2. The American totalizator, one of the most complicated computing machines in existence, will have an even more complex nature at the Fox Valley track when Aurora opens its twenty-four day meeting on May 2. H. Li. Strauss, representative of the totalizator company, is here now supervising the huge task of installation. Strauss is adding to the board at least one feature that no track has yet asked for. Auroras "tote" has been revamped to include combination bets, a feature that is entirely new in the now old story of totalizators. The Kane County track has always handled the "one-across" bets and when plans for the new machine were drawn up the complicated workings of the electrical device were so arranged to take care of the combination tickets. The alteration called for a problem, strange to engineering experts of the tote company. Now that the difficulty has been ironed out and the machine changed to handle the odd dollar combination wagers workmen are busy installing their biggest machine. TRACK TORN UP. For two days the track was torn up to allow the laying of conduits from the mu-tuel lines to the new odds-board which will be ready opening day. Aided by the good weather, the work progressed so rapidly that by Friday night all was completed. The arrival of the first horses will find the racing strip ready for immediate trials. Resident manager D. C. Burnett annually has plenty to do to remove the signs of winter from the racing plant, but his work has been made somewhat easier this spring because of clear skies. He has prepared the extensive stall room for the thoroughbreds which have begun their trek north. A number of horses are on hand now. Racing secretary Dick Leigh is expected from Hot Springs to supervise the apportioning of stable room.
