At 60 MPH, He Was Living Life in Fast Lane

Barney Oldfield didn’t invent the automobile, but he could be credited with inventing the racing automobile.

Ninety-six years ago today, at Los Angeles’ Agricultural Park, where the Coliseum stands today, Oldfield drove his “No. 2 Bullet” around a one-mile dirt track in 55 seconds flat.

Turn-of-the-century Americans were in love with fast cars. The mere thought of anyone reaching 60 mph quickened heartbeats.

After all, in 1903, many people still rode horses.

The Times’ lead the next day: “Barney Oldfield’s attempt to commit suicide at Agricultural Park yesterday only resulted in a compound fracture of the world’s automobile speed record.”

Of the announcement by a man with a megaphone that Oldfield had gone better than a mile a minute, The Times reported: “It was one of those moments for which such men live. Men burst the police lines and swarmed the track, shaking his hand as he sat laughing in his car.”

Oldfield’s speed shows around the country made him a national figure. For years, some highway police pulled over speeding motorists and asked: “Who d’ya think you are, Barney Oldfield?”

Oldfield was 68 when he died in Beverly Hills in 1946.

Also on this date: In 1965, Gary Beban threw two touchdown passes in the final four minutes to beat USC, 20-16, and send UCLA to the Rose Bowl. . . . In 1982, perhaps the most memorable single play in college football history occurred when Cal defeated Stanford, 25-20, on the last play of the game. Stanford, with a one-point lead, kicked off with seconds remaining as the Stanford band prematurely rushed onto the field. Cal returned the kick with five unscripted laterals, scoring and flattening a trombonist in the process. . . . In 1954, UCLA’s only national championship football team crushed USC at the Coliseum, 34-0, before 102,000. . . . In 1968, Fresco Thompson, executive vice president of the Dodgers and a one-time major league infielder, died at 66. He’d joined the Dodgers in 1940 and became general manager when Buzzie Bavasi left to run the San Diego Padres. . . . In 1931, Tony Canzoneri decisioned Kid Chocolate in a memorable lightweight fight before 19,000 at Madison Square Garden.