Barney Oldfield

Born on June 3, 1878 as Bernd Eli Oldfield in Wauseon, Ohio, Barney first rode bicycles to stardom and then later motorcycles. In 1902 he changed from two wheels to four and came to Detroit to drive a couple of new car built by Henry Ford and Tom Cooper. Oldfield and the red racer, the famous red 999, along with its sister car called the Yellow Arrow would bring national acclaim to Ford. Barney, in one of these cars became the first man to tour an oval track faster than 60 mph and repeated beat all corners in match race after match race.

He thrived on match races and was well known for often racing against airplanes on oval tracks. Perhaps Barney’s only championship came in 1905, when he took a long forgotten AAA title. But when he was on suspension from AAA, Barney would continue his barnstorming of the country hitting the fairgrounds circuits and his name became a household name. When not suspended, he was a top contender and recorded a couple of fifths in the Indianapolis 500 (1914 & 1916).
