automotive : Barney Oldfield

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a 1940's hollywood movie about racing, and Barney Oldfield has a role in it!

1941 film starring Virginia Vale and William Halligan, it follows the story of Beverly (Virginia Vale), the daughter of a wealthy tire manufacturer. (Barney Oldfield was exactly that after he stopped racing)

The film kicks off in Europe with races in France, Italy and Monaco (initial 2 mins of commentary is in Italian/French but the rest of the film is in English) then makes it’s way back to the US where a rivalry/romance kicks off with a fellow racer.

found on http://silodrome.com/the-blonde-comet/

the Stutz race car team at the Indianapolis 500 in 1914

the Desert Classic, 1908-1914... the Los Angeles to Pheonix race

old US 80 started its life as the course of the wild 1913 Great Desert Race from Los Angeles to Phoenix. In preparation for the race, Locke took Barney Oldfield over the road to show him how to navigate rough desert terrain.

Front page news, as so many publicity stunt car races were, imagine what passed for news in 1908-1914... not much. Publicity garnered by car companies getting stunts accomplished by the hardy and stamina having tough bastards that could hang in through exposure to all sorts of weather (open cars with no tops) and no roads, well this was nearly hero stuff in that age, and heroes making their way across your country is heady stuff that sold papers... everyone came out a winner. The drivers made a couple thousand per win.

That is why the 1908 New York to San Fran, the Paris to Peking, and the New York to Paris were etched in the cultural knowledge... new things that cars were, plus publicity, added to entertainment and a competition.. it's about as close to amazing as it got in 1908-1914. The times were full of historical firsts, heroes, and miracles. The first human flight in an airplane, the first roads, the first cars, etc etc

The first race was won by a steam powered White. The vehicles White made were so good, one was bought by the White House for President Taft's limo, and Buffalo Bill had one also.

above on the far right is Barney Oldfield, and he is driving the car he took to 4th place in the Indy 500 just months before. He won the Desert Classic with it.

for more about this, see http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/06/june-21st-6pm-san-diego-auto-museum-is.html

June 21st, 6pm, San Diego Auto Museum is having a event to share info on the History of Desert Racing

above images from http://www.gambleart.com/Barney%20Oldfield.htm

http://www.arizonaracinghistory.com/cactusderbyintro.htm has a good bit of history about the "Cactus Derby", it was 511 miles,

Briefly, when the cars were still a marvel in the US, and people raced them because it was the most incredible thing to do, faster than a horse could run, or a passenger could ride a train, all sorts of unusual events were almost commonplace to test drivers and the new contraptions called Automobiles, and a lot of people went racing in any form possible. The Paris to Peking, the New York to Paris, the New York to San Fran, the Vanderbilt Cup, beach racing at Ormond, Daytona, Bonneville and the dry lakes of So Cal... but you may not have heard of the LA to Phoenix races through the desert.

The lack of roads, lack of pre-racing course preparation, and there not being any gas stations, service stations, parts stores, helpful bystanders, mechanics, or even towns to drive through made desert races incredibly difficult.

http://sdautomuseum.org/events/desert-racing-history-michael-anthony doesn't have any details though

So I'm going to try to make it to that speech, or q and a, and learn! I did find out that the first car to win was a White car, powered by a steam engine. At that time (1908?) White was such a great car that the President got one,http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2007/06/presidential-limo-circa-1909.html and Buffalo Bill did too http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/08/buffalo-bill-drove-white-steamer-in.html

the first 7 years of the Cactus Derby winners were driving the White steamer I mentioned, then a Buick, a Kissel Kar, something called National Baby Blue, a Franklin (aircooled was an advantage in the hot Southwest), a Locomobile, and in 1914 Barney Oldfield won in a Stutz

The race took about 30 hours, was on Nov 9th, and the desert on November has cold nights, and days in the 70's

Barney Oldfield tires

1921 and great billboard above the store

1919 Washington DC

Via: http://www.shorpy.com/