OLDFIELD COMES BY MOTOR FROM FRISCO.
"Speed King" Stops Here on His First Transcontinental Drive.
With the tan of nearly 2,000 miles of a transcontinental automobile trip, Barney Oldfield, motor speed king, and David Joyce, millionaire Chicagoan and inseparable friend, arrived in Kansas City from the West. The party, which is traveling in a 5-58 Packard, includes a chauffeur and a valet. Oldfield and Joyce left San Francisco on April 12 and, with the exception of one day spent at the Grand Canyon, they have been making good time, aided by excellent roads.
"We are on our way to New York," said Oldfield at the Hotel Muehlebach yesterday. "Although I have done considerable motoring in my time, this is my first transcontinental trip. From here we go to Chicago, where we will visit at Mr. Joyce's home for a week. Mrs. Oldfield will meet me there. We expect to reach New York by May 10, in plenty of time to see the speedway races there on May 12. I will not take part in them."
Oldfield says he is to be in the Indianapolis speedway races on May 30, and that this trip is for the purpose of hardening him for the strain of those events. The party will leave Kansas City this morning.
"The last race in which I took part," said Oldfield, "was at Corona, Cal., on April 8, when Bob Burman was killed. At the time of the accident I had retired from the race on account of a breakdown, but just before then, when Burman was fourth in the race and I was sixth, he was running just ahead of me."
The Oldfield-Joyce party came through Kansas like a jackrabbit, they said. They spent Thursday night at Smith Center. At Kinsley Oldfield had the unusual experience of buying an inner tube and paying for it with money. Oldfield may be the "speed king of America," but his reputation doesn't pass for collateral with the "short grass" garage men.
