Oldfield Injured

This Motor Age article reports on a non-championship race staged August 7 & 8, 1905 at Grosse Point, Michigan. Overshadowing the competition was an accident to crowd favorite Barney Oldfield when his Peerless Green Dragon crashed through a fence, destroyed itself against a tree and through the driver the air. Oldfield sustained a head wound including lacerations to his scalp. The accident was the first of three serious scrapes for three of the star drivers of track racing: Oldfield, Earl Kiser and Webb Jay. Kiser and Jay would be injured before the end of August at Cleveland's Glenville track and Buffalo's Kennilworth circuit. Both of these men were hurt so seriously they retired from driving. Kiser had one of his legs amputated. Their names were so prominent it shocked the sensibilities of a population just getting used to the whole idea of automobiles. A cry rang out from newspapers to put a halt to track racing. While it gained momentum it never produced a following quite large enough to dismantle the sport.