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Oldfield Makes a Show of Negro in Match Automobile Race. Barney Oldfield, driving a 60 horse power Knox car, defeated the champion heavyweight pugilist, Jack Johnson, who drove a 90 horse power. Thomas Flier, with ridiculous ease at Sheepshead Bay track yesterday afternoon before a crowd of 5,000 people. Oldfield, skilled and ex perienced at track racing, left the big negro far behind in the first two five-mile heats. Johnson was a disappointment as an automobile racer. He lost ground on every turn of the track, and the great out burst of speed that was expected of him on the long stretches was missing. He was always a poor second. The greater part of the crowd was at tracted by curiosity, and it included hun dreds of negro admirers of the black pu gilist. Johnson learned yesterday that there’s quite a difference between beat ing trolley cars on city streets and racing high-powered cars on a race track. The most interested spectators of the race were the moving picture people. The competitors did more posing for the ma chines than racing. Before the race be gan two rival concerns had a lively but not disastrous argument over the privi lege. The final scene of the race was de veloped into a stirring picture for the cameras. A crowd was collected on the track surrounding Oldfield’s machine and instructed by the artist to wave their hats. This they did, and they also held Oldfield aloft on their shoulders while the cameras clicked. From a pictorial standpoint, the reproduction of the race ought to look good. The start was made on the back stretch, and Oldfield shot off the mark and was a dozen yards in the lead before Johnson started. Johnson raised a lot of dust, while Oldfield steadily increased the lead until he finished almost half a mile ahead. Oldfield’s time for the five miles was an nounced by Supt. Clarke of the race track as 4:44. Oldfield was not in so much of a hurry in the next heat, and sent hi Knox car along at an easy clip, keeping from 10 to 40 yards ahead of Johnson all the time, teasing him along, and won by a wide margin without having to extend his machine at any time during the heat. Oldfield’s time in the second heat was 5:14 4-5. Between the heats Oldfield drove his 200 horse power Benz a mile against time. He has established a mark of 0:49 4-5 at Brighton Beach. Oldfield furnished the only bit of excitement of the short pro gramme by sending the Benz around at high speed. The time given out was 0:44%. . Last night Oldfield made the following statement: “I did not enter into the race against Johnson for gold or glory, but to elimi nate from my profession an invader who might cause me trouble in a year or so if I ignored him now. If Jeffries had fought Johnson five years ago when the white man was in his prime he would not have had to return to the ring and suffer the Reno defeat. “There is no reason why Johnson should not develop into a good driver, with track experience and a high-powered racing car.
Newspaper Details
New York Times
New York, New York, US
Wed, Oct 26, 1910
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
David M.
USA 04 Jun 2026
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