Riding on the Howdy Special

This peculiar article is dated November 14, 1910 but the newspaper name is snipped off the clipping, which occurred all too frequently with these excerpts from Barney Oldfield's personal scrapbook. Written in a colloquial style, the article is a spoof that attempts to provide an insider's look at the shenanigans of the "Howdy Special," a train of automobile industry men that followed much of the course of the 1914 Cactus Derby. During much of the race, the train ran parallel to the race course, allowing those inside to watch some of the cars as the sped along. Barney Oldfield reportedly bet the "Howdies" that despite their significant head start, he would be at the passenger platform waiting for them at the end of that leg of the contest. The affable Oldfield made good on his word.
 
Men of prominence were on the train, including "Fat" McDermott, an executive of Peunte Oil Company, which supplied fuel to the Chevrolet team. Others included drivers Earl Cooper and Art Klein (neither were entered in the race), Captain Harmon Ryus (who won the first Cactus Derby in a White steamer in 1908) and newspaperman Connie Miles who reportedly auctioned off Barney Oldfield's cigar stub after the latter won the race.