Barney Oldfield

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Barney Oldfield

Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield (born June 3, 1878 in Wauseon , Ohio ; † October 4, 1946 in Beverly Hills , California ) was a car racing driver and pioneer. He was the first person to drive a car at 60 miles an hour (96 km / h).

Sporting successes

Cycling

Barney Oldfield with the Ford 999 (1902), next to Henry Ford
Oldfield on the Lakeside Circuit in April 1907
Barney Oldfield in his Blitzen-Benz in Daytona

Barney Oldfield began his racing career at the age of 16. In 1894 he won several silver medals and a gold watch. He finished runner-up in the Ohio Championship and as a result was employed as a salesman for the Stearns bicycle company. There he met his future wife, Beatrice Lovetta Oatis, whom he married in 1896. In the same year he also raced for Stearns.

Automobile sport

Oldfield was given a motorized bicycle to race in Salt Lake City , where he met Henry Ford . Ford asked Oldfield to test a car he had built on the Grosse Pointe circuit , even though it had never driven a car. Oldfield went to the circuit, but the two vehicles were not ready to drive. However, he and racing driver Tom Cooper bought the cars for $ 800, one of which was the famous 999 . With this car he drove his first race in October 1902 at the Manufacturer's Challenge Cup . The car is now on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn .

Oldfield agreed to race against then champion Alexander Winton . Rumor has it that Oldfield didn't familiarize himself with the features of his racing car until the morning of the race, but won by a half-mile lead. It was through this victory that the names of Ford and Oldfield became known.

On June 20, 1903 at Fairgrounds Speedway in Indianapolis , Oldfield became the first car racer to complete a mile in a minute. Two months later, he completed a mile in 55.8 seconds on the Empire City Race Track at Yonkers . Winton hired Oldfield and agreed to give him free cars in addition to his salary. Oldfield now traveled with his managers Ernest Moross and Will Pickens through the United States to numerous time trials and races and became known nationwide. In one year he drove 20 races in 18 weeks for Peerless Motor Car Corporation and won 16 of them.

Oldfield bought a Benz and converted it into his Blitzen-Benz , which could go over 70 mph. He used the car to break records over the mile, two miles and kilometer records on the Daytona Beach Road Course in Ormond Beach . He received a salary of $ 4,000 per appearance.

Suspension and late career

Many of these record racing and other activities that Barry Oldfield contested were considered unofficial and not recognized under the rules of the American Automobile Association (AAA). This is why he was often banned from official races by the AAA. Instead, Oldfield appeared in 35 shows with pilot Lincoln Beachey , in which an airplane and a Fiat race delivered.

Oldfield was later re-registered for official races, and competed in the Indianapolis 500 in 1914 and 1916 . He finished fifth in both races but became the first person in automotive history to exceed 100 mph in one lap . In 1914 he drove a Stutz built in Indianapolis and became the best American in a field that was dominated by Europeans. In the same year he finished second in the Vanderbilt Cup and the Corona 300 . In June 1917, he defeated the famous racing driver Ralph DePalma in a Golden Submarine in a series of duels in ten to 25 mile races in Milwaukee . Oldfield then withdrew from official car races, but continued to tour and make films.

In 1932, Oldfield sought sponsorship for a new car through a magazine article in order to set speed records again, but without success. Then he stopped his racing attempts completely.

Its reputation had become so legendary that there was a phrase for fast-paced drivers: “Who do you think you are? Barney Oldfield? "

Appearances in theater and film

In 1906, Oldfield appeared in the Broadway musical The Vanderbilt Cup for ten weeks . He also appeared in several silent films, including Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life (1913), in which he raced a train to save the heroine who was tied to the rails. In The First Auto (1927) he was portrayed as a pioneer in automotive history. At Back Street (1941) he was a technical advisor for a scene about the Vanderbilt Cup . He played himself in The Blonde Comet , the story of a young woman who wants to become a racing driver.

Contributions to racing safety

Bob Burman , rival and close friend of Oldfield, was killed in a race in Corona because he suffered serious injuries after his racing car rolled over in its open cockpit. This prompted Oldfield to team up with Harold Arminius Miller , who developed and built carburetors in Los Angeles and was one of the most famous engine builders in the States. Their common goal was to develop a racing car that was not only fast and durable, but also protected the driver in the event of an accident. They built the Golden Submarine racing car , in which there was a streamlined roll-over cabin for the driver, which completely enclosed the driver.

Business activities

Barney Oldfield helped another racing driver, Carl G. Fisher , set up a car dealership, the Fisher Automobile Company , in Indianapolis. This auto deal was probably the first in the US. He also developed the Oldfield tire for the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company and advertised it with the slogan " Firestone Tires are my only life insurance ". This campaign promotes Firestone. In 1924, the Kimball Truck Co. in Los Angeles built the only Oldfield .

death

Oldfield died on October 4, 1946 and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City .

Honors

In 1953, Oldfield was among the first ten racing pioneers to be inducted into Auto Racing's Hall of Fame . He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 1989 and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1990 . An annual race in memory of him is held at Oakshade Raceway in Oakshade , near his birthplace.

literature

  • William F. Nolan: Barney Oldfield: The Life And Times Of America's Legendary Speed ​​Kin . ISBN 978-1-888978-12-4

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael Kernan: “Wow! A Mile a Minute! ” In: Smithsonian , July 5, 2009
  2. ↑ a b c Barney Oldfield on motorsportshalloffame.com ( Memento of the original from May 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.motorsportshalloffame.com
  3. ↑ Barney Oldfield , University of Virginia , Retrieved January 23, 2008 (English)
  4. ↑ The First Mile-A-Minute Track Lap on firstsuperspeedway.com (English)
  5. ↑ Barney Oldfield on rumbledrome.com ( Memento from July 15, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  6. ↑ "Six Miles Per Minute Seen By Master Driver" Popular Mechanics . August 1932
  7. ↑ lostindiana.net ( Memento from October 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ^ Barney Oldfield, Ohio History Central , July 1, 2005
  9. ↑ Old Cars, August 8, 1978. Motor West, June 1, 1924. Long Beach Press, 1924. Long Beach Telegram, 1924.
  10. ^ Berna Eli (Barney) Oldfield, the nation's pioneer auto racer, died today at his home here , New York Times , October 5, 1946
  11. ^ The Detroit Free Press . 19th February 1953.

Web links

Commons : Barney Oldfield  - album with pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Oldfield, Barney
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oldfield, Berna Eli (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American racing driver
DATE OF BIRTH June 3, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH Wauseon
DATE OF DEATH October 4, 1946
Place of death Beverly Hills