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N0KFQ > TODAY 25.10.14 16:03l 56 Lines 2565 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 38684_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Oct 25
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 141025/1459Z 38684@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.60
Oct 25, 1910:
Barney Oldfield defeats boxer Jack Johnson in Brooklyn auto race
On October 25, 1910, white race car driver Barney Oldfield beats
prizefighter Jack Johnson, the first African-American heavyweight
champion of the world, in two five-mile car races in Sheepshead
Bay, Brooklyn.
Oldfield and Johnson had a history: Oldfield's friend, the white
heavyweight champ James J. Jeffries, had quit boxing in 1908
because he did not want to fight a black man for his title. In
July 1910, Jeffries came out of retirement to fight Johnson at
last, but lost in 15 rounds. (Twenty-six people were killed and
hundreds were injured in the nationwide riots that followed the
black fighter's victory.) After that, Johnson was unable to find
anyone who would fight him_so, he turned to car racing instead.
In October 1910, he challenged Oldfield to a race.
Oldfield, a flamboyant daredevil who had just set a new
land-speed record (131 mph) in his Blitzen Benz, accepted the
challenge at once. The competitors bet $5,000 on the contest_the
driver who won two out of three five-mile heats would win the
bet_and invited a Hollywood crew to film the race. But there was
a problem: in order to make the race official, Johnson needed a
license from the American Automobile Association, but the AAA
refused to license black drivers. What's more, the organization
told Oldfield that it would rescind his license if he went
through with the race. But bets had been made and contracts
signed, so the race was on!
Rain delayed the race several times, but on October 25 the skies
were clear. Five thousand people gathered at the Brooklyn track,
waving their hats and cheering for the movie cameras. Oldfield,
driving a 60-horsepower Knox car, won the first heat by a
half-mile, in 4:44. In the second, he slowed down a bit_he kept
just ahead of Johnson's bright-red car, taunting the boxer as he
drove--but won the race in 5:14. There was no need for a third
heat: Barney Oldfield was the winner.
Eighteen months later, the AAA reinstated Oldfield and he began
to race again. A few years later, he drove the first 100-mph lap
in the history of the Indianapolis 500 race. Johnson's luck was
not as good: Many people resented his success, and especially his
habit of dating white women, and he was arrested several times on
trumped-up violations of the Mann Act. As a result, he spent a
year in federal prison. Johnson died in a car accident in 1946.
He was 68 years old.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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