South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1922-10-01
Ey MA service.

AKRON O.. Sept. 20.-Twen,y
years ago oct 2. Barney Oldheld
drove an automobile for the first
time % his life. He won a five-mile
race at Crosse Point, near Detroit,
.n 5-26. The winning car called the
cooper Special. was built by
Henry Ford Later 1t was known as
he "999."
To measure progress " someone
once advised. look backward"
Oldh-ld. now president of an Ak
ron-ure company bearing his name.
was perfectly willing 70 look back
ward when reminded Of his goth an
niyersary Of his first race. He's
much the same Barney as OF old,
minus the ecccntricities he displayed
mostly for advertising purposes. be
10 known in his racing days.
The records say he'll be As next
Jan. %, but the secret is not be-
-rayed by gray hairs or fabby flesh.
Since oct. .. 1902. America If
not the whole world-has almost
been made over by the automobile.
And the men who figured in Old
fields first motor car race have been
leaders in the achievement.
Wished on Barney.
Henry Ford. =" said Olddeld. had
built this car and turned il over to
Cooper. was riding bicycles in
races ar salt Lake City when l got a
wire TO come on to Detroit and when
/ arrived found / was slated as
mechanic around motorcycles and
bicycles. 1 had never driven a car in
my life"
Fords description of the car Old
field was asked TO drive for the first
time is interesting:
The roar of the cylinders alone
was enough TO half Kill a man. There
was only one seat. One life TO a
car was enough. tried out the
car. Going over Niagara Falls would
have been a pastime after riding
in it. I did not want 10 take the re-
sponsibility of racing the "999"
neither did Cooper.
Cooper said he knew a man, who
lived on speed. that nothing could
go too fast for him. He wired to
salt Lake City and on came a pro-
fessional bicycle rider named Bar
nev Oldfeld. He had never driven
Cd motor car but said ne would try
anything once"
Previous to this event, Old1eld
tells Of an experience at Dayton with
a race driver named Spider Huff
with whom he went 10 Dayton.
OIdheld's job in this race was to act
as a sort Of vacuum tank. The car
buretor. consisting Of nothing more
than pumps attached TO the cylin-
ders-wouldn't pull the gas out OF
the tank. So Oldheld rugged up a
pipe from the gas tank to the motor
and while Huff drove he sat on the
back-end blowing pressure into the
tube-with his mouth.
Taught Himself.
The day Of the historic Crosse
Point race Oldfeld found himself
suddenly promoted to driver without
any PREVIOUS notice.
who taught me 10 drive = A dozen
fellows have claimed that they did.
AS a matter of fact. I taught my
self. I just drove. And I won"
Alexander Winton. the motor car
manufacturer, CnarleS Is ohdhNS
and Harry Hardness were among
the competing drivers. OF that race
Ford says:
As OIdaeld took his seat while
was crauking the car for the start
he remarked cheerily: Well this
chariot may kill me. but they will
saw afterward that I was going
like hell when 1 went over the
bank"
AS winning driver Oldheld Eot
500.
Il conceived the idea after the
Crosse Point race" Oldfeld says.
'that I could go a mile a minute on
that track II I waited until the track
got hard. In December. 1902. I tried
IL. The FIRST curve hit sent me spin