Oldfield Wins AAA Championship

As reported elsewhere on First Super Speedway, the first American auto racing points championship was organized in 1905. The attached article, "Oldfield05Champ," reports the results where Barney Oldfield was crowned American Automobile Association (AAA) "track championship."
 
The confusion among historians and public relations people driving various agendas about "national champions," is evidenced by the second article from Automobile Topics. Oldfield was earlier announced as 1903 track champion, but this was not based on an accumulation of points. It was the consensus of the editors of trade newspapers, each announcing their choice for the driver of the year. The points championship was shelved after a series of serious accidents, one involving Oldfield, that triggered media outrage and a campaign to ban auto racing on horse tracks. It was a bump in the road as the venues, while ignored by the national trade press, continued to produce racing events, and many evolved to accommodate race cars.
 
Auto racing researcher Ken Parrotte provided these important news clippings.