End of Day Two

I pulled this article from Barney Oldfield's personal scrapbook. As with most of the articles in the scrapbook the name of the newspaper is snipped from the clipping, which is unfortunate. The article is hard to read in places, but for the most part is legible. It reports on the events of the second day of the three-day grind that was the 1914 Los Angeles to Phoenix "Cactus Derby." The leader at the end of day two was none other than Barney Oldfield, the eventual winner of the endurance test.
 
Colorful details that make this era so special and so different than today's racing include the struggles of pre-race favorite Olin Davis and the travails of his ride in the Simplex entry. The rough terrain shook the cars violently and took its measure on the Simplex, which had its oil tank break loose from the car. His riding mechanic spent a good chunk of the race cradling an oil tank in his hand, using a hose to feed the esstential lubricant into the engine. On a service stop Louis Chevrolet must have want to smack the mechnanic who mistakenly dumped several gallons of water into his gas tank. This race was Chevrolet's big comeback as a driver, having left the sport after a deadly accident in the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup that killed his riding mechanic Charles Miller. In the meantime he helped found the Chevrolet Motor Company but left after a falling out with Chariman William Crapo Durant. Interestingly, Chevrolet drove a Chevrolet car in the race entered by none other than Cliff Durant, William's son.
 
A nice bonus in this content is a table that shows the standings of the drivers in order of their times and complete with the names of their cars as of the end of the second day when they stopped at Prescott, Arizona.