Barney Oldfield biography
Barney Oldfield, byname of Berna Eli Oldfield, (born January 29, 1878, close to Wauseon, Ohio, U.S.—died October 4, 1946, Beverly Hills, California), American automobile-racing driver whose title was synonymous with velocity within the first 20 years of the twentieth century.
A bicycle racer from 1894, Oldfield in 1902 turned the driving force of the 999 racing automobile designed by Henry Ford and owned by champion bicycle owner Tom Cooper, with whom he was acquainted. Oldfield rapidly achieved fame by guiding the car to 2 victories over Alexander Winton’s supposedly invincible Bullet. On June 20, 1903, at Indianapolis, Oldfield achieved the primary mile-a-minute efficiency in an vehicle (59.6 seconds); a month later he drove 5 miles in 4 minutes 55 seconds at Yonkers, New York. At Daytona Beach, Florida, March 16, 1910, in his Blitzen Benz, he set a world velocity file of 131.724 miles per hour (mph). His unprecedented driving feats earned him the nickname “speed king.” In November 1914 he received the Los Angeles-to-Phoenix Cactus Derby Race, the medal for which proclaimed its victor “Master Driver of the World,” and on May 28, 1916, he turned the primary particular person to lap the Indianapolis Speedway at a velocity of greater than 100 mph.
Oldfield was additionally a well known advocate for driving security, and he was among the many first to make use of a security harness in his automobile. In 1919 he joined forces with the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company to kind the Oldfield Tire Company, of which he served as president.