Sport: Jinx Race

In November 1902 Barney Oldfield was a brisk young sport who had made a fair reputation as a bicycle racer and just got a job with Henry Ford. When Ford perfected the automobile named 999, which he thought might become the first in history to go a mile a minute, he set about to select a driver for a five-mile race. Barney Oldfield had never driven a car, only ridden in one twice, but he asked for a chance to drive it. After learning to drive in the...

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