Mountain Home maverick. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1906-1911, 1910-04-21
oLDFIELD's STORY.
R8as Finally Achieved the Great Am
bifion of His Life-(soing
Two Miles a Minute.

ambtson. Barney Oldheld is quotated
as saving. IL have Travelled faster
than any other person in the whole
world have shot along the rocklike
.sands of Daytona Beach at a greater
speed than many wise men believed
was possible to attain without en-
,countering disaster. over a million
dollars has been spent by different
factories and individuals to build cars
that would beat the world at the
speed game. You have seen a hun
zsy hid looking into a cookie laden
bakery window with longing and
vristfulness written all over his face.
That's lust about the way / stood by
and saw other drivers. without pre-
wsous reputation. break speed records,
and made up my mind that about
ahs time the other fellow thought
the Emit of daring and speed had
been reached. would go them one
better and steal that speed king
crown for all my own.
Il was playing a more chance-tak-
ing and hazardous game. that circular
track. with fence rails and posts
Dlowing into my anatomony every
time Z made a faux pas, as they
tried 10 teach me when ! was in the
show business. But it humilitated
me every time some well-meaning
person would ask me what speed had
been attained with an automobile
Maybe I had just driven circular
track mile in SO seconds. slidding
ali over the end of a soft turn How
cheap my SO seconds seemed to look
beside the straight away fellows %
COT ~ secondsl Nearly every dollar
7 possess was earned with blood
my blood and attendant physical pain.
bu il did not take me long to make
up my mind to buy the car which /
mesd 10 break the worlds record for
every mark ! went after in Florida.
"a want to go on record as saying
that there is only one race course
In the world that will permit the
speed made, and that is the Daytona
Beach course
My first trouble upon trying out
the car was to get goggles that would
enable me to use my eyes after
reached the 12O-mile an hour gait.
My ordinary racing goggles almost
gouBed my eyes out, the pressure
caused by the wind being terrific.
After lot of experience overcame
ahs difficulty Then came the work
Uf getting accustomed to great speed
Z believe / am calloused to ordinary
dangers of automobile racing. but it
WAS a new dread and fear for me-
The limit of speed was going
Easter for mile after mile than the
scientific automobile engineers fig
aired could be attained without the
dires being thrown off the wheel by
centrifugal force.
'rhe loss Of traction was startling.
Fully third of the distance the
wheels We're off the ground. The
front weels We're shooting up and
down in a weird dance that caused
me to shut down my motor until they
would hold to the ground l knew
rhat the gearing would admit of a
speed of $50 miles an hour when
the engine was wide open
III was up to me to find out what
che limit of speed really is. l would
walt for a particularly good stretch
oi beach and then I would let the
great old car have its lead. Down
would go the throttle. and the spark
ryoule be advanced well along Then
we would shoot through space
would again begin to choke every
thing before me would become en-
shrouded in haze and / would sud
emily feel as hough l was in the
middle Of nightmare. about to
Jump off Of some mountain precipice
Then l would shut her down.
had travelled faster than human ever
travelled. Far faster. for 142 miles
IAN hour is almost million times as
fast as it looks in print That is
as near the limit of speed as human
VIII ever travel.
More powerful automobiles may
be built, though it is not necessary
for my Benz has never been open
but not even on Daytona Beach viii
that speed be beaten. ! stuck to the
wheel and kept the car as far oper
as could until ! felt myself becom
ing unconscious. Another second Of
so and it would have been all off
others may talk Of such speed, bui
7 am the only man i'm the world who
ever got near the limit of speed
~ am under contract. foolishl,
entered into before knew the chance
r.-orII hove lrf,rn m,