Book Review--Barney Oldfield, The Life and Times of America's Legendary Speed King by William F. Nolan

In the 1920s and 1930s, speeding motorists would be asked by the patrolman, “Who do you think you are, Barney Oldfield?” The question referenced Barney who was widely known as the Speed King.
 
Like many of the successful racers of that period, Berna Eli Oldfield, was quickly drawn to the world of speed. At age 14, he became obsessed with the bicycle and promised that someday he would own the fastest bicycle in the world. He started working as a waterboy for a railroad, and later as a bellboy at a Toledo hotel. It was there that he was given the nickname of Barney. 
 
It was through bicycling that Barney developed a friendship with Tom Cooper.  WhenTom quit bicycle racing and joined Henry Ford to build a couple of racing cars, Barney joined them as a mechanic. One of the cars was the 999.
 
Barney’s first race was in the 999 against Alexander Winton’s Bullet. On a cold overcast day, Barney beat the Bullet in a race at Grosse Point, Michigan. Afterwards, Barney announced that he would be the first American to beat the mile a minute record which he did on June 20, 1903, in a meet co-promoted by Carl Fisher at the Indianapolis Fairgrounds. His feat elevated him to a national hero.
 
Despite his success in the 999, Barney was lured by a lucrative offer from Winton to drive the Bullet No. 2. It was in the four-cylinder Baby Winton at a race in Detroit that he lost control of the car, smashed through a fence and hit a tree. Thrown from the car, Barney broke several ribs and several molars. This led to his trademark of driving with a cigar stub clenched between his teeth.
 
His success on the racetrack earned him a great deal of money. Unfortunately, he was spending more than he was earning. When he decided to forego a race as he had a more lucrative offer, the AAA fined him and he was terminated by Alexander Winton. Barney didn’t care. He already had an offer from Lou Mooers to pilot a Peerless “Green Dragon” racer. In it, he raced a Southern Pacific train to a crossing and barely made it across. When asked why he continued to race, Barney replied that it was for the money.
 
In 1904, he teamed up with William Pickens as his advance agent to go around the county drumming up publicity. With death around every corner, Barney decided to go into show business and took to the stage in a 1906 production of Charles Dillingham’s The Vanderbilt Cup. In it, with the help of a treadmill, he raced against Tom Cooper. His acting career ended in May when he returned to auto racing.
 
By 1909, Barney had acquired a Benz where he set a new American record for the mile at 83.5 mph during the opening weekend for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Over that weekend, he set new records for the five, ten, fifteen, twenty and twenty-five miles. He set a new goal—to land the world’s land-speed record. He traded his Benz plus $6,000 for the Blitzen Benz. He took the car to Daytona Beach where he set the new record at 131.7 mph. on March 16, 1910. Newspapers proclaimed he was the “Speed King of the World.”
 
AAA threatened to permanently suspend him if he raced Jack Johnson, who had recently won the heavyweight title. Barney soundly beat Johnson in an unsanctioned race. After being suspended, Barney turned to barnstorming at county fairs across the county.  He hired Ben Kerscher and another driver to race against him. Barney would normally win the first heat, Kerscher the second and Barney would edge out Kerscher in the final heat. While it was staged, the audience loved it.  By 1911, Barney had enough money to again retire from auto racing. He opened a saloon in Los Angeles but soon tired of the business.
 
With the AAA ban prohibiting him from being at the racetrack, Barney approached Harvey Firestone who hired him as a tire salesman. Soon, Barney grew tired of hearing about the feats of Wild Bob Burman who was setting new speed records including at Daytona Beach where Burman went 141 mph. Angered by this, he asked Pickens to get the AAA to lift the suspension. As it turns out, the chairman of AAA had recently changed and Barney was reinstated. In September 1912, Barney set a new two-mile world record.
 
In 1914, Will Pickens set up a new money-making scheme. He had Barney racing against Lincoln Beachey in his Curtiss airplane at various venues. By the end of the summer, the three men split $250,000 in profits. It was also the year that Barney returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where he drove a Stutz racer for a fifth-place finish. While unsuccessful in the Indianapolis 500, Barney won the Cactus Derby, a three-day, 700-mile race from Los Angeles to Phoenix in the Stutz racer.
 
On May 28, 1916, Barney took his aged Christie to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the goal of being the first to circle the track at 100 miles per hour.  He succeeded with an average speed of 102.6 mph.
 
Barney had high hopes for the “Golden Submarine” designed by Harry Miller. At Barney’s suggestion, it was enclosed with an aluminum top and was painted metallic gold. Barney thought the top speed should be over 120 mph, yet in its first test in 1917, it was clocked at 107.4 mph. By the end of the season, the car had established new dirt track records from one to 100 miles. In the last race of the season, Barney crashed the Golden Submarine and it turned over. A two-by-four from the splintered fence ruptured the fuel line and the car began to burn. Barney was able to extricate himself from the car just before the gas tank exploded. At the end of the 1918 season, Barney again retired, this time for good.
 
Henry Ford suggested to Harvey Firestone he could capitalize on Barney’s popularity. Firestone established the Oldfield Tire and Rubber Company. Barney received $50,000 for the use of his name. and was installed as company president. He soon tired of being the business executive and would sneak out of his office to go to the local watering hole. By 1922, the Oldfield racing tire was a success and Barney agreed to step down from the company.
 
Always driven by money, the 1920s were a boomtime for many in America, including Barney. Before the stock market crash in October 1929, he boasted of earning $270,000 per year and having over $1,000,000 in a brokerage account, some of which was on margin. By the end of the year, his fortune had been wiped out. Always bitten by the speed bug, he set a new speed record in an Allis-Chalmers farm tractor at Dallas, Texas, in October 1933. He drove the tractor over five miles with an average of 64.5 mph. He parlayed this feat into a series of tractor exhibitions at Midwestern fairs.
 
In 1937, Barney purchased the Valley Park Country Club in Van Nuys and renamed it the Barney Oldfield Country Club. He sold it in May 1945. Shortly before his death in September 1946, he participated in the Golden Jubilee in Detroit which celebrated a half-century of motoring. He shared the speakers’ table with eleven other veterans of the industry.
 
This is an entertaining, easy to read book. Sprinkled with conversations, it is more along the line of a historical novel. Be sure to check out Sigur's review of "The Legend of the First Super Speedway.
 
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