Friday, June 17, 2016

tractor racers Ab Jenkins and Barney Oldfield, publicity men for Firestone tires and Allis Chalmers


It was in 1932 that Harvey Firestone, owner of Firestone Tire, had three Allis-Chalmers tractors built, not for their pulling power, but for speed. They were the first tractors to be fitted with rubber tires.

Firestone hired celebrity race drivers, including Jenkins and Barney Oldfield, one of the most famous of the early auto racers, to engage in tractor races at county fairs and agricultural events.

Famed race car drivers like Frank Brisko, Barney Oldfield, and Ab Jenkins performed in front of an estimated 1 million people during 1933 alone.
http://www.agriculture.com/machinery/tractors/antique-tractor/allischalmers-u_201-ar15591


http://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18003&title=barney-oldfield-and-the-allis-chalmers-999
http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2009/09/15/land-speed-tractors-oldfield-v-jenkins/comment-page-1/#comment-9772041

There were promotional field demos, pairing a Model U on steel against one on rubber. And to literally drive the point home a fleet of U’s equipped with a high-speed fourth gear raced at tracks across the country.



One of the tractors was on loan to the Ardell Brown Classic Car Center in Salt Lake City in 2004.

Firestone believed the high-speed tractors would be a way he could show farmers that his rubber tires were a technical marvel, not a gimmick.

The agriculture market was skeptical of the new rubber tires. Tractors, at the time, ran on metal rims.

Firestone hired celebrity race drivers, including Jenkins and Barney Oldfield, one of the most famous of the early auto racers, to engage in tractor races at county fairs and agricultural events.

Jenkins eventually took one of the tractors to Bonneville Salt Flats to set a land-speed record. In 1935, he drove the tractor at 68 miles per hour through a one-mile course. He later was given a belt bucket inscribed, "The World's Fastest Farmer."


Eldon Kearl, who facilitated the loan of the tractor, said his research shows the tractor was purchased by a farmer, who found that it had no power but could go fast. It was later purchased by an Ohio man, Randall Sheffied, who planned to use the tractor to plow fields. He, too, found the tractor had no pulling power but went much faster than he wanted. Research told him the tractor was not meant to plow fields but to race.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595096478/This-tractor-was-built-for-speed.html?pg=all
http://antiquetractorsforum.com/showthread.php/84-Allis-Chalmers-first-in-rubber-and-racing


War, a New Era, and Depression, 1914-1940 By Paul W. Glad

4 comments:

  1. Nice piece! Ab Jenkins was one of the best and is greatly under appreciated.

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    1. did you read http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2012/07/movie-review-of-boys-of-bonneville-in.html ? Or see the documentary " the Boys of Bonneville"? It's really good

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    2. Thanks! I'll check them out.

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    3. Read the early piece, thanks for the link! Good job, too! I just always loved the thought of Ab Jenkins driving that enormous Duesenberg roadster around town, after he'd made it "street worthy," when he was mayor of Salt Lake City. What a sight that must have been! (A sad note well, more a pathetic note, I happened to be in Salt Lake City while the "Speed" show was on with all of those cars, and totally missed it! Heard about it when I got home. Duh.)

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