Barney Oldfield

Automobile Racer

• Born: January 29, 1878
• Birthplace: Near Wauseon, Ohio
• Died: October 4, 1946
• Place of death: Beverly Hills, California

Sport: Auto racing

Early Life

Berna Eli Oldfield was born on January 29, 1878, near Wauseon, Ohio. When he was eleven, his parents, Henry Clay and Sarah (Yarnell) Oldfield, moved to Toledo, Ohio, where Berna soon revealed his daredevil nature by catching rides on city fire wagons. When he was fourteen, he bought a bicycle, which he raced through the streets of Toledo.

In 1893, Berna quit school to become a bicycle racer. He learned fast, studying ways to reduce wind resistance, build his physical stamina, and pace himself. The turning point in his life came in 1894, when he rode in the Ohio State Championship races in Canton, Ohio. After he finished second in three events, the Stearns bicycle factory hired him to ride for its racing team. He acquired the nickname “Barney,” which he soon made synonymous with daredevil speed racing.

The Road to Excellence

Barney Oldfield was born as the United States was entering the Industrial Revolution, an era of technological advancement, when telephones, electric lights, and, soon, automobiles were changing American life. In 1902, when Barney started racing automobiles, the United States was still in the horse-and-buggy era, and few people sensed the automobile’s importance. Most rural Americans had never heard of the automobile, and there were only 178 miles of paved roads in the entire country.

Although Barney was not well educated, he helped change American life. He was an important matchmaker in the fast-developing American love affair with the automobile. His success in reaching the public imagination stemmed from his mix of flamboyant daredevil feats with an unmatched gift for self-promotion.

Early automobile manufacturers realized that car racing would provide dramatic advertising for their new product. In 1901, Tom Cooper, a bicycle racing friend, urged Barney to come to Detroit, Michigan, where Tom was helping Henry Ford build two high-speed racing cars. At Grosse Point, Michigan, in October, 1902, Barney drove the Ford 999 car to his first victory, breaking a speed record held by Alexander Winton, considered the greatest racer of that time. In June, 1903, Barney used the 999 racer to become the first American to cover a mile in less than one minute. These feats made Barney famous, boosted Ford’s career, and helped popularize the automobile in the United States. Barney was a natural showman who barnstormed the nation; people flocked to see the famous mile-a-minute man race the newest machines.

The Emerging Champion

In August, 1903, Barney left Tom Cooper to work for Alexander Winton. His salary was $2,500 a year plus maintenance, expenses, and prize money. He soon drove the Winton Bullet Number Two to a three-mile record and went on to set record after record, driving with his trademark cigar clenched between his teeth. There were bad times. In September, 1903, for example, he blew a tire and veered into the crowd, killing one spectator and injuring himself.

Barney entered racing when it was an unorganized sport dominated by flamboyant showmen running match races against one another. Barney rebelled against attempts to bring organization to racing, and he was in constant trouble with the new American Automobile Association (AAA), which often suspended him from official events.

Suspensions did not hurt his popularity. In mid-1904, Barney went to work for the Peerless Company and drove the “Green Dragon.” Money poured in, which he spent on lavish parties. He toured the United States and Canada and won international acclaim. By the end of the year, he held all dirt-track records from one to fifty miles. In 1905, he stayed in the headlines by winning races and continuing to have narrow escapes from death. On March 16, 1906, he set a new record at Daytona Beach with a speed of 131.7 miles per hour. He was called the “Speed King of the World.”

Barney’s name was synonymous with racing and with speed. He raced farm tractors and pitted cars against locomotives and airplanes. He drove the most famous cars of his day: Fiat, Mercer, Maxwell, Stutz, the Ford 999, a French Delage, and a Christie. Few people could beat Barney on dirt tracks, and he was also a master of long-distance road racing.

AAA suspensions kept him out of some of the early Indianapolis 500 races, but in 1914, he took fifth place driving a Stutz; he took fifth again in 1916. In November, 1914, he won the Cactus Derby, a race of 671 miles from Los Angeles, California, to Phoenix, Arizona, that won him the title of “Master Driver of the World.”

Continuing the Story

The Indianapolis races symbolized a new day, with dedicated professionals eclipsing the undisciplined daredevils. In 1918, Barney retired to pursue other interests.

At the end of his auto racing career, he formed an alliance with the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company that led to its continuing involvement in racing. The company named a tire after Barney, called the “Oldfield.” Barney made money on this venture, selling out in 1924.

Barney became a millionaire and lived lavishly. He was married four times. His friends included many famous millionaires and film stars. Although the stock market crash in 1929 wiped out his fortune, he remained famous to the end of his life. He earned money as a consulting engineer and spokesperson for automobile products, and as a celebrity at fairs and other public events. He appeared in a film about his life and wrote his autobiography.

In May, 1946, at the Detroit Golden Jubilee celebrating a half century of motoring, Barney was honored as one of the great pioneers in automobile history—a fitting end to his story. He died on October 4, 1946, of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Summary

Few sports figures have had as much impact on the American imagination as Barney Oldfield. Part sportsman and part huckster, he helped establish the automobile as the technological innovation that most changed American life in the twentieth century.

During Barney Oldfield’s long racing career, he drove in thirty-six championship events and set numerous speed records. He helped create the first successful racing drivers’ union and eventually became a pioneer in establishing automobile safety regulations. He was named to the Automobile Racing Hall of Fame in 1953 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame in 1952.

Bibliography

Kernan, Michael. “Wow! A Mile a Minute! Automobile Racing Driver Barney Oldfield Set Many Speed Records.” Smithsonian 29, no. 2 (May, 1998): 28-29.

Nolan, William F. Barney Oldfield: The Life and Times of America’s Legendary Speed King. Reprint. Carpinteria, Calif.: Brown Fox Books, 2002.

Oldfield, Barney. Barney Oldfield’s Book for the Motorist. Boston: Small, Maynard, 1919.

“Track Record.” Popular Mechanics 182, no. 9 (September, 2005): 20.