The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-17
BARNEY HAS COME BACK
 AFTER MORE RECORDS
By c. E. VAN LOAN

New York. March 16.-Barney Oldfield is one champion who "came back but he does not think Jim Jeffries can do the same thing.
 Oidneld is an interesting young man. He started the craze for fast driving on cir eular tracks-the most dangerous form of alleged sport in the world--and after seven years. 70 accidents and 1000 hair breadth escapes, Barney is still in the game, having outlasted for crack racing cars and outlived most of his competi- tors
 A few weeks ago when in New York. Barney closed deal for another racing car. This one is of 20o-horsepower and with it Barney hopes to get below the present record of 52 seconds for one mile on a circular track. ....
 Three or four years ago everybody thought that Oldfleld was knocking at the door of the down-and-out club. Other men were outdriving him on the mile tracks and Barney was finishing h the dust. The king wasn't exactly dead, but it was believed that he was breathing his last.
 Barney wouldn't admit it. ''Ill get a car some day" he would say. When I get a machine that can go as fast as I want to drive 1t, I'll get that record back
 Of course they laughed at him behind his back and said it was remarkable that smart fellow like Oldfield didn't realize that he was nerve-broken, and step aside for the younger and better men.
 They said that Barney ought to hand that new car stuff to Sweeney. They didn't say this to Barneys face, you un- dertand, for Barney is a rough man with mitt like a Virginia ham, but not half so to ba efe trying and finishing second and third and watching the other fellows get the money. He watched lot of them get a ticket to the Great Garage on the other side. The men who began driving. after Barney showed that it was possible to tool an automobile around mile track in one minute fiat, did not have Barney s luck. One after another they went into the fences or turned over on the turns and their friends said 1t was fool game anyway, and not worth the fearful toll in human life.
 Then Barney got the new car. It is a fearsome looking piece of work but it can show it's ugly back to all the rest of the track racing cars and Barney took heart again.
 | Early in the winter he drove one mile | on a circular track in the phenomenal time of 52 seconds, bringing the record back home again. The coroner's jury sat up and took notice of this wild per- formance. deciding at last that it might have been bit premature in setting aside a slab for the young man.
 Of course Barney will not quit now A dozen times he has been on the verge of retirement from the racing game, but with one winner already in the stable and the 1O0-horsepower Benz coming up there isn't chance that Barney will re- tire until he finds out what this new car can do.
 His luck has been "phenomenous. simply phenomenous." On road and track Barney has been taking chances for several years. He Is one of the most reckless young men that eyer took hold of steering wheel. and while he has killed specta- tors. smashed up passengers and wrecked a dozen cars, Barney has escaped with a few stitches in his scalp and a few scars on his body.
 How much longer will he last? Nobody knows He may ''get It. as he says. the next time he goes out. Luck doesn't last forever, and in the auto racing game @ bursted tire or pinch of dust in the eye may write "Finis" at the end of the drivers record.
 Oldfield doesn't risk his neck because he likes to see how close he cen shave the inside rail Nothing like that. Barney Is as fond of life as most men of his age. Perhaps little more SO. because he has had good time during his pres ent incarnation. He drives racing cal because he knows there isn't another thing on earth at which he can make sc much money. Probably he has made more money out of the auto racing garnf than any three men who can be men. toned.
 Even while other men were caring fol his championship records. Barney was g premier money getter. People so to set him because they know he has gone