Barney Oldfield

Barney Oldfield was one of the first great celebrities of American motor racing. Born Bernard Eli Oldfield in Ohio in 1878, he began as a competitive bicycle racer before Henry Ford recruited him to drive the formidable Ford 999 in 1902. Oldfield subsequently raced machines including the Winton Bullet, Peerless Green Dragon and Blitzen Benz, establishing numerous speed records and touring the United States in heavily promoted exhibition races. His flamboyant clothing, ever-present cigar and willingness to risk his life before large crowds helped transform automobile racing from a mechanical novelty into a popular spectator sport.

Oldfield appears in American Dreams, the second book in John Jakes’s two-volume Crown Family Saga, following Homeland. The fictional Carl Crown, a mechanically gifted and restless member of the German-American Crown family, works for Henry Ford before joining Oldfield on the early automobile-racing circuit. Jakes presents Oldfield as the celebrated “Speed King of the World”, using Carl’s association with him to evoke the danger, showmanship and technological excitement of pioneer motor racing. The episode also marks a stage in Carl’s development from automobile mechanic and racing driver to aviator, connecting the fictional Crown family with the rapid industrial and cultural changes that shaped the United States before the First World War.