Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-24
ClRCLlNG TRACT
WITH KING RACE
DRIVER or WORLD
WONDERFUL MACHINE Is THE
MONSTER BENZ
EIGHTY-FIVE MILES AN HOUR
LIKE GOING TWENTY
Remarkable Versatility of Real Char
acter Made Popular by Actual
Performances in Good
Faith
BY ID. w. sEMPLE

BY ID. w sEMPLE
That there has been some fast driv-
ing on the track at Ascot park among
the local drivers is not gainsaid, and
especially with the cars at their com
mand, but when 1t comes to riding
fast-real riding-real driving-all hats
must be raised TO Barney Oldield.
1t may appear at times that much
publicity is given to Oldheld, but when
man gets out and does something
he is entitled to all the facts that may
be stated of him in whatever profess
sion he may appear before the public.
The Herald man had a genuine op-
portunity yesterday to measure up
this man of iron nerve and most excel
lent head, and it is a source of salts
faction to say that to know Barney
Oldheld from day TO day Is to have
the admiration for the man himself
grow with each meeting, for he has
so many manly qualities which de-
Velop with acquaintance as the cause
the most sincere appreciation of the
man. Oldfeld has never been the man
TO run away when 1t might have been
policy for Oldfcld to be absent, know
ing as he knew that he was living
that he was going to defeat by remain
ing, but stayed and took his medicine
with his cars without murmur.
The cool. calculating judgment ex-
ercised by Oldheld has made him what
he is-the real King of the automobile
racing track When other drivers have
appeared upon the racing horizon with
cars handed them by the factories
Oldfeld has kept his weather eye up
on cars he had i'm mind, which with the
proper care and patting upon the back
he decided could be made good, when
they had been marked for the top
shelf of usefulness and it was his
cold -blooded calculation that led the
big Benz which he now owns PERSONAL
ly, into his possession and with ii he
established records which astonished
the world and that after a seemingly
hard luck season of disappointments
in his cars and in himself. The same
cold -blooded judgment led the Dar-
racq into his stable of cars, also when
she had won the Vanderbilt cup race
and from that glory was assigned to
the junk heap, and today 1t viii be
conceded that the track knows no such
speed as this freak of the automobile
track, with her character of a driver
In Ben Derscher--the man with no
fear in his makeup. Along with these
two cars the same measure was taken
of the big stock Knox with her six
cylinders perfection in detail and then
the selection of young Fred Shaw, the
Springfield, Mass. daredevil driver
who pilots this car so successfully.
To the good listener the fund of in
formation that may be gathered from
Oldfeld when he drops into a remi-
niscent mood is beyond all question one
OF the most enjoyable entertainments
that can be afforded his listener. With
a fund of details at his command,
coupled with remarkable memory for
time, places and events, the informa-
tion comes from him in an incessant
flow of good matter.
At Ascot park yesterday this prince
of racing information sat in his big
Benz and invited The Herald man to
take a whirl with him around the
track. This paper has had previous
occasion to comment upon the fact that
Oldfield was always ready to go. His
car showed that fact imeasurably true
yesterday. With no previous work or
even q look at her, she was off in a
moment the machine responding to the
touch of her masters hand as the
beautiful horse springs to the bit at the
word of his driver. 1t takes no expert
to see where this master mind con-
trolls. There is no juggling with the
wheel, no palaVering with clutches or
throttles. Curves look the same to
Parney Oldfelds as straightaways. The
track as though alive. With hoarse
but rhythmic sound she coughs her
cylinder movements as regular as the
ticking of the pendulum of the regu-
lator Sixty-fiVe miles, seventy miles,
eighty miles per hour and the huge
machine travels as smoothly as though
ON the most polished floor of the uni
verse. Into the turns with all the talk
about the awful track at Ascot park
but never murmur out of this man of
nerve. No complaints come from him.
He is there-a professional driver
which he has the unquestioncd right
to claim, to do what he promised to do
for the public and Oldfeld will do 1t.
That has been-is-the secret of Old
fields wonderful success in his pro-
fession. He takes all his own chances
with car and person.
Added to all this as inferred is the
genial personality of the man..
Oldfield, like good cloth, wears. His
talks are inspirations from the expert
ences rich in requirement of profess
sion which he has chosen as his life
work, and to a very large extent this
work has been educational as we'll as
entertaining to the public. 1t shows the
versatility of the man in judgment of
machines and his thorough mastery of
every detail. and if any one should
ever doubt that Barney Is so FAR ana
away over them all in racing, driv-
iIW, Just let them have the opportunity
to ride with that man in such ma
chine as the Benz, when he is giving
her a little taste of what she evidently
liSes--speed
That Oldfield has a wonderful car in
his 120 horsepower machine there is no
doubt, and when the public witnesses
this king of all race track drivers on
Saturday and Sunday next, they will
aUidanapG what
can perform in constructing delicate
yet powerful machines mastered by a
mind devoted sincerely to his profess
sion.