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Avert Second Threatened Shutdown at Hazel Trots Drivers Finally Agree to Permit Work on Strip for Rest of Week DETROIT, Mich., May 12. For the second time in a week, the Hazel Park Harness Raceway was on the verge of a shutdown, which like the first one, was finally averted. A committee of the Michigan Harness Horsemens Association met with track officials after the last race Monday night and issued an ultimatum that they wouldnt enter for Thursdays races unless a layer of clay was put on the track. Last week, a shutdown was prevented when the horsemen complained of the track and the association dismissed its track superintendent and engaged Paul Buck in his place. The drivers were pacified for a day or so but then they complained the track was still full of holes and "cuppy." Mondays ultimatum then followed an emergency conference resulted and Richard A. Connell, president of the Hazel Park Racing Association, the successful running organization that operates the same plant, came into the picture. Connell appealed to the horsemen to give the track another chance to make good. As a result, Buck will have the rest of this week to work on the strip. Until he took over as track superintendent, Buck had been driving at the meeting. The horsemens committee, composed of Hoyt Wilson, Harry Vreeland and Frank Paterson, will meet again with Price Kim-brough and Don MacFarland, Raceway officials and state steward Mai Linehan probably after Saturdays races to see if the. track is improved enough. Connell explained his presence at the harness talks by saying that the running association was keenly interested in what was done to the track. It has been said that the Hazel Park Racing Association refused th e harness peoples request to cover the racing strip with a top layer of clay. Connell denied it. He said that the Raceway was given virtually a free hand. Some harness officials claim, however, that Paul Talbot, who conditions the track for the runners, would not allow them to add clay because it contained large stones which remained to plague the thoroughbreds even after the clay was removed. On top of everything, continued cold weather and rain have plagued the first two weeks of the 39 -night harness meeting. Betting and attendance are running well below last years record figures.
