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| (Omaha Daily Bee. August 21, 1904) |
Barney Oldfield didn’t just race cars. He
scared the hell out of people with them.
In
the early 1900s, most Americans were getting used to automobiles. Oldfield was
tearing around dirt tracks at speeds that seemed insane.
His
daredevil antics made him America’s first racing superstar. Crowds came just to
see what he’d do next—and maybe to see whether he’d survive another day at the
track.
In
1904, Oldfield became a spokesperson for Peerless, a Cleveland automobile
maker. His racing machine, the Green Dragon, was a stripped-down monster built
for speed.
And
Oldfield knew how to sell a show.
He
raced at fairgrounds and horse tracks, challenging other drivers. Chasing speed
records. Newspapers followed him everywhere. Peerless quickly figured out that
having the country’s most famous driver behind the wheel was pretty good
advertising.
That’s
exactly what this ad was selling.
It
promised spectators a chance to see a Peerless driven by “the world’s most
fearless driver—Barney Oldfield.” You weren’t just going to see a car race. You
were going to see Barney Oldfield.
The
Green Dragon made Peerless famous. And Barney Oldfield made automobile racing a
spectacle Americans couldn’t stop watching.
This
advertisement was published in Omaha, but targeted at Iowa and Nebraska
drivers. It sold cars. Lots of them.
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