Oldfield 1910 Speed King

Heading into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's first Memorial Day weekend of racing - and its first as the Brickyard - Barney Oldfield was the sport's hero. There's a reason for the story that when an American police officer during the first 30 years of the 20th Century, upon pulling someone over for a speeding violation would ask, "Who do you think you are, Barney Oldfield?"
 
Despite never winning the Indianapolis 500 (in fact he only competed in the classic twice, finishing fifth on both occasions) his name transcended the sport and entered the popular lexicon of the day. Oldfield was colorful and simply had his finger on the pulse of the everyday fan - because he was one of them.
 
He spoke for "ordinary folk" and was unafraid to speak his mind. He resonated with hundreds of thousands of people who liked his bold, homespun wit that reflected a man unafraid of authority.
 
While Oldfield may not have been greatest driving talent of his age, he was one of the best and took his craft seriously. He was versatile and enjoyed success on the big speedways as well as road courses. While he never won the "500," he did win several races at the Brickyard in 1909 and 1910.
 
He was never more at home than on the short dirt ovals. Early on he toppled the elite such as millionaire Alexander Winton in a race at Grosse Pointe, Michigan as well as becoming the first man to circulate a closed circuit mile track in under a minute. "A mile a minute" was an often heard utterance and for years became a measuring stick to separate pros from posers.
 
In 1904 Oldfield began his barnstorming practices, taking his show to rural county horse tracks with audiences full of people that had not seen an automobile before. During that time he established every track speed record from one to 50 miles. All of this firmly planted him as the household name for speed, Oldfield = Speed.
 
Much changed between 1904 and 1910 as car technology took significant leaps forward on all levels from engine design to suspensions, tires and brakes. New and talented players emerged such as Ralph DePalma, Ray Harroun, Joe Dawson, Johnny Aitken, Charlie Merz and Tom Kincaid to name a few. They were young studs who were serious about both going fast and the mechanics behind making it possible. Still, Oldfield stayed at the forefront.
 
One of his big moves that year was to purchase the Blitzen Benz and ship it to Daytona for their annual spring speed tournament. In March he eclipsed the world land speed record at 131.7 MPH.
 
The point of all this leads to the article you will find at this link. This comes from the May 25, 1910 Indianapolis Star and discusses the panoply of entries for the national championships race meet scheduled to start two days later. I want you to read the article carefully and think about this: is not Oldfield the benchmark by which the writer, Roy Buckley, assesses all the other competitors?
 
Click thru and once again discover a doorway to another marvelous time.