Collection on Barney Oldfield
Barney Oldfield was American racing's first "superstar" documented in this collection through photographs, tickets, and advertisements.
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"You know me, Barney Oldfield," was the classic catch phrase of one of America's earliest celebrity sports figures and during the nascent period of the automobile most every American knew Berna Eli Oldfield. As a teenager, Oldfield worked odd jobs in Toledo earning money to buy his own bicycle to ride in local and regional road and endurance races barnstorming with bicycle racing teams throughout the Midwest.

During the winter of 1899, Oldfield reconnected with an old racing companion, Tom Cooper, who had just returned from England with a motorized two-wheeler (an early motorcycle). Cooper was going to demonstrate the vehicle at a race in Grosse Point, Michigan in October 1901 and asked Oldfield to come along. Cooper and Oldfield were a preliminary exhibition before the main event: a race between local "chauffeur," Henry Ford, and the most well-known automobile manufacturer of the day, Alexander Winton. After touring western states with the motorized bicycle, Oldfield returned to Detroit in the fall of 1902 at the request of Tom Cooper to drive a racecar. "The Race" between Cooper's 999, recently purchased from Henry Ford and driven by Oldfield, and Alexander Winton's "Bullet" captured the imaginations of not only Detroit's automotive elite, but the mass of people as well. When Oldfield piloted the 999 to victory over Winton's sputtering Bullet, the news spread like wildfire across Detroit, the Midwest, and eventually the nation.

Over the next 15 years, Barney Oldfield set multiple world speed records and gained notoriety wherever he went. After a brief stint driving for Winton, Oldfield took the wheel of the Peerless "Green Dragon" and established himself as America's premier driver claiming world records in the 1, 9, 10, 25, and 50-mile speed categories. In addition to entering 20 to 30 races and exhibitions a year, Oldfield also found time to appear on Broadway and in silent movies. Oldfield flaunted the conventions of his time both on and off the track and was sanctioned by the American Automobile Association for several years. In order to keep racing, Oldfield and his manager set up exhibitions at county and state fairs across the country holding, 3-heat matches against a traveling stable of paid drivers. Oldfield padded his reputation by adding an element of drama to these events by losing the first match, barely winning the second, and after theatrical tweaking and cajoling of his engine, winning the third match.

Barney Oldfield retired from competitive racing in 1918 although in typical Oldfield fashion, his final race was under suspension by the AAA. Oldfield continued to keep himself at the fore of America's sports entertainment culture with ceremonial "referee" jobs at various races and rubbing elbows with American movie, stage and music stars. Barney Oldfield's last public appearance was at the May 1946 Golden Jubilee of the Automobile Industry held in Detroit. Oldfield shared the main speaker's table with automotive icons including Henry Ford, Ransom Olds, and Frank Duryea and accepted a "trophy of progress" for his role in automotive history. Barney Oldfield passed away in October, 1946.

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