Oldfield, DePalma, and Airplanes

This is another important contribution by auto racing historian and researcher Ken Parrotte. We have three Atlanta Constitution articles that describe a thrill show at the Lakewood Park dirt oval in July 1917. The show included an airplane aerobatic exhibition, but the feature was a match race of three heats between Barney Oldfield and Ralph De Palma. This is the race that ended the Golden Submarine configuration of Oldfield's Miller racer. He burst through the inside rail fence and into a pond. Because of the car's enclosed cockpit design, he had trouble extricating himself and nearly drowned.