Barney & Kaiser Wilhelm II

This image orginally appeared in the Toledo Times - Barney Oldfield's home town. It was promotional news coverage of Barney Oldfield's coming appearance at a local track. Oldfield toured the country with his Blitzen Benz racer after setting a 1-mile record of 131.720 mph and a 2-mile record of 142 mph (both with flying starts)  during land speed record runs at Daytona Beach on March 23, 1910.
 
The photo ran as supporting art for an article that tells the story of Kaiser Wilhelm II sending a congratulatory cablegram calling Barney a "daring Yankee." It also shares that Barney renamed the car from his original promotional name - the Lightning Benz - after reading that the Kaiser referred to the machine as the Blitzen Benz. Humorously, Oldfield was concerned that "Blitzen" was a vulgar word. To solve the problem one of the organizers of the run rounded up a German shoe cobbler that had settled in the area for a translation. His report was the "Blitzen" was simply the German name for "Lightning." Barney liked the sound of it and began using it.