A Different State of the Art
The automobile now was a more familiar part of American culture than in 1904. Auto racing had acquired a broader fan base, one which was less interested in exotic cars. The country's affair with stock-car racing had begun. Racer versions of production American cars now competed all over the country, usually on ovals, driven by men like Barney Oldfield, whom the public idolized.
Ithaca Daily News, August 23, 1919
Swiftly navigating a series of curves now was appreciated less than pure speed. Compared to road racing, both drivers and cars had to be agile in a different way. Oldfield embraced the change, and he took it to an extreme. He had "observed" a Cup race "to see what he could learn," but afterwards he returned to ovals and pure speed pursuits. Eventually, he forsook sanctioned auto racing completely, opting instead for one-man events, like speed record attempts, or one-on-one challenges. Once, he even raced a car against a biplane.
Willie K must have been conflicted about these developments. He had wanted the excitement of road racing to promote innovative engineering, leading to improvements both in racing and pleasure driving. Now, the racing public was understandably caught up in the moment, cheering for American cars with familiar names. Deep down, the cars they saw on the track were pretty much the same as the ones in their own garages, right?
