Oldfield "Retires" for the First Time

This article provides interesting insights to Oldfield's outlook on his career and even his inner fears. He confesses to "losing his nerve," and wanting to retire. Oldfield "retired" many times during a driving career that spanned from 1902 to 1919. For Oldfield, the primary objective was to earn money and assert his position in society on his own terms.
 
At the time of this article, probably sometime in the second half of 1905, Oldfield began thinking about a stage career. His model for this was his friend Jim Jeffries, the former heavyweight boxing champion who took up acting, including the title role of "Davy Crockett," a production in the early part of the 20th Century. Oldfield created a vaudeville act with his friend Tom Cooper that used the Peerless Green Dragon on a treadmill to simulate a speeding racer. In January of 1906 the special effect was incorporated into a Broadway musical based on the Vanderbilt Cup.