Oldfield at the Top of World Speed Chart

This chart was used frequently to illustrated the state of speed in 1910. Barney Oldfield's 131.720 mph speed record in March 1910 at Daytona-Ormond Beach wasn't just the world land speed record, but the world speed record, period, no asterisk. No airplane, no rocket, no train had ever gone faster. For a very brief window in time, the automobile sat atop the world of speed. Oldfield accomplished his feat in the German-built "Blitzen" Benz, or, as he liked to call it the "Lightning Benz."