MAY 6, 1920
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMP WILLS DEFENDS TITLE
World Heavyweight Champion Harry Wills toyed with Charley Weinert for the better part of 10 rounds before disposing of the challenger with a 13th round knock out. It was the first defense for Wills (43-1) since regaining the title in February with a TKO of Jack Dempsey.
MAY 11, 1920
DONNACONA WINS DERBY
Everything that could go right did for jockey William O'Brien as he rode Donnacona to the 1920 Kentucky Derby title. While pre-race favourites Damask and Paul Jones got tangled up in traffic on the backstretch O'Brien found a clear path and steadily steered Donnacona into open track. The lead over over Paul Jones, On Watch, and race surprise Herron expanded through the final turn and Donnacona had just enough to hold on for the victory.
Herron, which finished 11th in real life and was listed at 25-1, shocked the field with a strong second place finish, half a length back. It was the second year in a row that jockey James Butwell took a low real life finisher into second place after doing the same with Be Frank in 1919.
On Watch was third with real life winner Paul Jones a distant fourth. Jones' camp lodged a protest against the oddsmakers favourite Damask for bumping on the back stretch but it was denied. In truth, the bumping did more harm to Damask than Paul Jones as he finished 6th. Damask's stablemate, Upset, also had big problems getting boxed in with all the traffic and finished a dissappointing 8th.
The winning time was 2:08 3/5ths in the sim as compared to 2:09 in real life.
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1920 KENTUCKY DERBY RESULTS
FINISH HORSES NAME REAL LIFE RESULT
1 Donnacona 5
2 Herron 11
3 On Watch 3
4 Paul Jones 1
5 By Golly 7
6 Damask 4
7 Prince Pal 13
8 Upset 2
9 Cleopatra 15
10 David Harrum 14
11 Blazes 6
12 Patches 10
13 Wildair 8
14 Bersagliere 9
15 Peace Pennant 16
16 Sterling 17
17 Sandy Beal 12
MAY 31, 1920
CHEVROLET WINS INDIANAPOLIS 500
Gaston Chevrolet was the victor in the 8th running of the Indianapolis 500 motor race. Chevrolet, who's brother Louis also competed and finished 17th, became just the second person to win the event in the same year he won it in real life. Louis Chevrolet is the founder of the Chevrolet car company while Gaston would be killed in a race at the Beverly Hills Speedway in November 1920.
Chevrolet had little competition in this race, finishing 6 laps ahead of second place driver Tommy Milton. Rene Thomas finished third. In real life Thomas was second and Milton third. Unlike the 1919 sim race which was full of cautions, there was just one yellow flag this time around and the result was the quickest race in Indy history with an average speed of over 102 mph.
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WINNERS OF THE INDY 500
YEAR SIM WINNER REAL WINNER
1911 Ray Harroun Ray Harroun
1912 Charles Merz Joe Dawson
1913 Theodore Pillette Jules Goux
1914 Arthur Duray Rene Thomas
1915 Gil Anderson Ralph DePalma
1916 Wilbur D'Alene Dario Resta
1919 Jules Goux Howdy Wilcox
1920 Gaston Chevrolet Gaston Chevrolet
FINAL RESULTS: 1920 Indianapolis 500
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ST FIN LAPS RUNNING or
POS POS CAR DRIVER COMP REASON OUT PIT
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6 1 4 Gaston Chevrolet 200 Winner 1
11 2 10 Tommy Milton 194 Flagged 1
18 3 25 Rene Thomas 193 Flagged 2
1 4 2 Ralph DePalma 191 Flagged 1
19 5 28 Joe Thomas 191 Flagged 2
15 6 12 Jimmy Murphy 191 Flagged 1
23 7 33 Ralph Mulford 190 Flagged 1
20 8 18 Howdy Wilcox 190 Flagged 2
4 9 26 Jean Chassagne 189 Flagged 1
17 10 15 Pete Henderson 188 Flagged 1
12 11 29 Eddie O'Donnell 188 Flagged 2
2 12 6 Joe Boyer 187 Flagged 2
8 13 7 Bennett Hill 186 Flagged 3
10 14 9 Ray Howard 184 Flagged 2
22 15 19 Jean Porporato 184 Flagged 2
13 16 34 Willie Haupt 183 Flagged 2
3 17 3 Louis Chevrolet 183 Flagged 2
21 18 16 Jules Goux 169 Gearbox 2
14 19 32 John Boling 114 Blown Engine 1
7 20 5 Roscoe Sarles 113 Transmission 1
5 21 8 Art Klein 78 Joint 2
9 22 31 Eddie Hearne 69 Lost power 1
16 23 17 Andre Boillot 43 Pump 3
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WINNING TIME: 04:52:34
WINNING SPEED: 102.598 mph
MARGIN OF VICTORY: 627.17 sec
YELLOW FLAGS: 1 for 4 laps