Barney Oldfield

1878-1946 Oldfield began his racing career, racing bicycles in 1894 winning medals and a gold watch. In 1896 he was paid to ride for the Stearns factory to ride with their amateur team. Then on a borrowed gas powered bike racing at Salt Lake City he met Henry Ford who asked him to test drive one of his cars at Grosse Point track track. He purchased the two cars Ford had prepared even though he had never driven a car. This took place in 1902 and the following year he was the first man to drive 1 mile in 60 seconds or 60 miles per hour. In one year he drove at 20 tracks in a Peerless automobile in 18 weeks and won 16 of those races. In 1910 he purchased a Benz and later that year his speed was up to 130 miles per hour. In this same car he broke the record for the 1 and 2 mile course at Daytona Beach . More on this great driver as time permits Thanks for stopping in Roger