| Article Index |
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| The Green Dragon |
| Back To Cleveland |
| Reconditioned and Back To Work |
| The Wheel Problems of 1905 |
| All Pages |
Page 3 of 4
On August 1, 1904 Barney Oldfield went to work for Peerless driving the reconditioned Gordon Bennett Green Dragon race car. He achieved immediate success scoring a daredevil victory over Herb Lytles big 8 cylinder Pope Tornado that August in Buffalo, New York. He then appeared at Grosse Point track to vanquish 11 rivals in a winning exhibition that saw him lap the entire field including two Winton Bullets that finished 2nd and 3rd. On August 28 was the Louisiana Purchase Trophy Race at St. Louis (a special event of the World Fair). Barney had a green helmet and a green driving suit to match the Green Dragon. He lined up next to A.C. Webb’s big Pope Toledo for the main event, on the straight away Webb pulled ahead with the Dragon right behind him, as they thundered into the second curve a walnut sized rock was kicked up by Webb’s churning wheels and smashed Barneys goggles, blinding him with dust. He plunged through the fence, mowing down the number seven post and splintering over 100 feet of fence. His twisted machine came to a halt against a massive oak tree, catapulting Barney from the wreckage. He received a deep head wound, a punctured lung, a shattered ankle, and a crushed chest. Two spectators were killed and twelve injured. The Green Dragon was totaled and what was left was taken as souvenirs.
Peerless and Barney Oldfield were both arrested for murder. Charges were later dropped.
Peerless was racing the Blue Streak, which was a striped down production car. Tracy and Ridgeway drove this in other races and reliability runs but it was the Green Dragon that broke most of the records and got the publicity.
Louis Mooers had been developing a more powerful overhead valve 4 cylinder 60 HP engine. The second Green Dragon was all new with a pointed radiator, aluminum hood, overhead valve 60-HP engine and under-slung frame for a lower center of gravity.
On October 15, 1904 the new Dragon was ready and Barney was healed. There was a match race that day with the new Winton Bullet and Peerless won easily. Later in October, at Brighton Beach, he would race against the European champions for the World Championship. Barney and the new Green Dragon won and they became the World Champions.
| Peerless World Records For 1904 | ||
| Miles | Time | MPH |
| One | 0.53 | 67.92 |
| Nine | 8.04 | 66.94 |
| Ten | 9.12 | 65.17 |
| Twenty-Five | 23.38 | 63.44 |
| Fifty | 48.40 | 61.63 |
