New Orleans Race - 1910

This article summarizing results from the 1910 New Orleans Mardi Gras meet appeared in the February 7, 1910 Indianapolis Star. Barney Oldfield grabbed the headlines for his victory over Ralph DePalma in a match race. In fairness to DePalma his Fiat fell prey to a faulty tire allowing Oldfield in his Benz to prevail. Despite the fact that Oldfield recently acquired the Blitzen Benz my guess (and that is all it is) is that this car was actually his older Benz racer that he drove to victory in a 25-mile contest at the inaugural auto racing weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in August 1909. Note, too, that the New Orleans motoring enthusiasts had staged the first edition of this racing event the previous year in 1909.
 
The 3,500 fans who attended the Mardi Gras auto festival were reportedly disappointed as only four of the advertised six events actually came to fruition. Further to that point one of the events was described as an "uninteresting" amateur competition.
 
The article provides a summary of the events:
 

• Five mile Klaw & Erlanger Trophy Race for amateurs: Fred Shaw (Knox), Caleb Bragg (Fiat), Jack Darcy (Stoddard-Dayton). Handicaps: Shaw, 15 seconds; Bragg, scratch and Darcy 45 seconds.
• Ten Mile match race: Oldfield (Benz), DePalma (Fiat)
• Five mile Gentilly Automobile Company Trophy for New Orleans Championship - the winner was M. Pierwin in a Thomas but on a forfeit award for lack of starters.
• Ten mile free-for-all: Ben Kirscher (Darracq); Oldfield (Knox); DePalma (Fiat). Handicaps: Kirscher (15 seconds); Oldfield 32 seconds; DePalma (scratch). Note that from other sources I have learned that Kirscher's Darracq was the car Victor Hemery drove to victory at the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup.
• Ten mile special handicap event: Oldfield (Knox) and DePalma (Fiat) second. Oldfield has a 23 second handicap.