The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-06-09
NOT RACING FOR FUN
Barney OlffieId Says lie Does 1t for
the Money That il In 1t.

4 met and had an illuminating ak
with Barney Oldfeld, the top-notcher
among all the automobile racing men,
not long ago." said a Washingtonian
who meets up with the celebrities as
he goes along. He is a square-jaw-
ed, good looking, Gig man-very much
bigger than [ ever imagined him to be
and the possessor of a mighty shrewd
sense of humor. He told me that the
newspaper stories in which he InYa-
Tiabiy represented as just a maniac On
the subject Of speed are always divert
ing 20 him.
They picture ne as a plain, ordi
nary, common or garden variety Of
0ug on this speed question: he said to
ne, and then some of them go right
ahead and solemniy recount the sin
aular fact that my lie is perfectly
miserable when I'm not hiking along
a. a 1OO-miles-a- n rate They
say that Id prefer to eat my meals
and take my baths and get my sleep
while whiZzing along at that rate or
a hotter one, if the mater could be
SO arranged, and all that sort of bally
rot-all Of it, however, highly enter
tanning reading to the humble subject
of the nonsense.
Let nj make that story right, once
for all. | am not crazy On the speed
question. | am not jeOpardizing my
life for fun Or because it is the kind
Of thing | like best to do. AS a square
| matter of fact | don't like it atall.
and | could mention, offhand, fifty
| kinds of work that I'd a heap rather
dc if | could get an equal amount Of
| money out of those kinds of work. The
| speed bug, so-called, has never bitten
| Ee in any part of my anatomy, and if
there is such an insect extant l don I
know it.
1.-The answer to all this speed mania
humbug that's been written about me
is mighty simple and commonplace, but
: l might just as well get it out OF my
| system now as at any other time.
Its simply this I'm in the game
for the money | can pull out Of it, and
| am overjoyed to be able to add that
| am pulling the money out of it, and
| hope to go on doing so as long as
| last at it. I could quit riding around
| III IdSL UuZZ WdSOuS IISuI uOW, tA1S
| minute, and never think Of one Of the
| things again, if l had money enough
| sailed away to enable me to do that
| thing with satisfaction to myself and
| without regrets as to the profitable bus
mess l would be allowing to slip away
| from me. I've been through three
/ mighty hard fences already, and have
| had some shaves that make me shudc:r
| even to think about-for don't you te-
| lieve for a minute that Nv got that
| icy disregard for death that's been as
| cribed to NE. l don't want to die any
| quicker than I've got to, and if / take
| big chances it is, as l say ,simplybe-
/ cause the auto racing game offers na
| better opportunities to pick up a liv-
ing and something better h any
| thing | am conversant with.
eff | want to keep up with and a lit
| tie bit ahead of the a~uto-racing bust
ness, I've got to keep right on going
| faster and always faster, and that's ex
actly what l mean to do as long as
I've got the ability to do it and he
| nerve left. But it isn't any recraa-
| ton for me, and Id rather go fsnin-
| any time."-Wasnington Star.