Oldfield Scrapbook - Miscellaneous

This is an interesting grouping of articles that I believe are from 1908. The item on preparations for the Briarcliff Trophy (New York) is definitely from 1908 because the drivers listed in that event (including Emanuel Cedrino, who was killed a month later in an auto race at Pimlico), were the competitors of that year.

Barney Oldfield apparently appeared at Ascot Park in Southern California on Christmas 1909. This content is better referred to as a "clip" than an article. It is a fragment of an article supplemented by some images. Still, it conveys enough information to know that it was originally published December 26, 1909 and that a race meet attended by some 7,000 people marveled at Barney Oldfield in his Knox defeating Ben Kirscher in the Darracq that won the 1905 Vanderbilt Cup with Lewis Wagner at the wheel.

This package of articles is from 1909, and, perhaps, 1908. One article touts the prowess of J. Walter Christie's front wheel drive monster - clearly from 1909 as it mentions Joe Matson's 1909 Indiana Trophy. Another article discusses two deaths on California dirt tracks and how it must spell the doom of track racing. A third article describes how Oldfield got "punked" by a group of good old boys who took him before a judge to assess a $200 speeding fine - and then surprised him with a special luncheon.

I am almost certain this collection of articles is from the autumn of 1907. Lewis Putnam Strang raced for his uncle, John Walter Christie, after the latter broke his wrist in September 1907. He then began driving an Isotta for a very successful year of road racing in 1908. That means the article in the far left column of the first page of this collection is almost certainly October 1907. Also, the article immediately beside it references the Strang article. Wherever the men were, they were putting on speed exhibitions in the Fall of 1907.