THE ASSASSINATION OF JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY CONSIDERED AS A DOWNHILL MOTOR RACE


Oswald was the starter.
	From his window above the track he opened the race by firing the
 starting gun. It is believed that the first shot was not properly heard by all
 the drivers. In the following confusion Oswald fired the gun two more times,
 but the race was already under way.
	Kennedy got off to a bad start.
	There was a governor in his car and its speed remained constant at
 about fifteen miles per hour. However, shortly afterwards, when the governor
 had been put out of action, the car accelerated rapidly, and continued at a
 high rate of speed along the remainder of the course.

The visiting teams. As befitted the inauguration of the first production car
race through the streets of Dallas, both the President and Vice-President
Participated. The Vice-President, Johnson, took up position behind Kennedy on
the starting line. The concealed rivalry between the two men was of keen 
interest to the crowd. Most of them supported the home driver, Johnson.

The starting point was the Texas Book Depository, where all bets were placed on
the Presidential race. Kennedy was an unpopular contestant with the Dallas
crowd, many of whom showed outright hostility. The deplorable incident familiar
to us all is one example.

The course ran downhill from the Book Depository, below an overpass, then on to
the Parkland Hospital and from there to Love Air Field. It is one of the most
hazardous courses in downhill motor racing, second only to the Sarajevo course
discontinued in 1914.
	Kennedy went downhill rapidly. After the damage to the governer the car
shot forward at high speed. An alarmed track official attempted to mount the
car, which continued along its way, cornering on two wheels.
	Turns. Kennedy was disqualified at the hospital, after taking a turn
for the worse. Johnson now continued the race at the lead, which he maintained
to the finish.
The flag. To signify the participation of the President in the race Old Glory
was used in place of the usual chequered square. Photographs of Johnson 
receiving his prize after winning the race reveal that he had decided to make
the flag a momento of his victory.
	Previously, Johnson had been forced to take a back seat, as his position
behind the President indicates. Indeed, his attempts to gain a quick lead on
Kennedy during the false start where forstalled by a track steward, who pushed
Johnson to the floor of his car.

In view of the confusion at the start of the race, which resulted in Kennedy,
cleary expected to be the winner on past form, being forced to drop out at the
hospital turn, it has been suggested that a hostile local crowd, eager to see a
win by the home driver Johson, deliberately set out to stop him completing the
race. Another theory maintains that the police guarding the track were in
collusion with the starter, Oswald. After he finally managed to give the send-
off Oswald immediately left the race, and was subsequently apprehended by track
officials.

Johnson had certainly not expected to win the race in this way.  There were no
pit stops.
	Several puzzling aspects of the race remain. One is the presence of the
President's wife in the car, an unusual practice for racing drivers. Kennedy,
however, may have maintained that as he was in control of the ship of state he
was therefore entitled to captain's privileges.

The Warren Commission. The rake-off book of the race. In their report, prompted
by widespread complaints of foul play and other irregularities, the syndicate
lay full blame on the started, Oswald.
	Without a doubt Oswald badly misfired. But one question still remains
unanswered: who loaded the starting gun?