Oldfield at Ormond - 1904

This image is of Barney Oldfield at the Ormond - Daytona Beach speed trials which ran the last week of January 1904. Oldfield was one of the stars of the meet when he defeated William K. Vanderbilt Jr. in their only one-on-one racing competition together. Oldfield drove the Winton Motor Carriage Company's "Bullet No. 2" and Vanderbilt was at the wheel of his newly imported aluminum chassis Mercedes. The two were paired in the competition one-mile run, with Oldfield defeating Vanderbilt and Sam Stevens after preliminary heat races determined the participants in the final. Vanderbilt and Oldfield seemed destined to run head-to-head again in the competition five-mile contest, but it was not to be. After winning his first heat, Oldfield's Winton engine gave it up, breaking a crankshaft. This proved a devestating set back and Oldfield packed up and headed back to the Winton factory in Cleveland.