Barney Oldfield was one of the most fearless racing stars of the early 20th century. But fearless doesn’t mean foolhardy. After the 1916 death of his friend Bob Burman, who had been racing in an open-cockpit car in Corona, California, he commissioned engineering wizard Harry Miller to build a different kind of race car: the Golden Submarine, the first race car to use a metal roll cage inside the driver’s compartment.
The streamlined car garnered Miller nationwide prominence as a race-car builder. Years ahead of its time in many ways, the aerodynamically advanced, wind-tunnel-tested, 104-inch-wheelbase Golden Submarine cost $15,000. It featured a 289-cid, sohc, cross-flow, water-cooled, 136-hp four-cylinder engine—the forerunner to the highly successful Offenhauser engines of later years. At 410 pounds, the aluminum-alloy engine was a lightweight compared with competitors’ higher-powered, heavier engines.
In June 1917, soon after the Golden Submarine was assembled, it was entered in a 250-mile race in Maywood, Illinois. Oldfield qualified at 107.4 mph but failed to finish. Later that summer, he won two 25-mile, two-car competitions in Milwaukee, vying with Ralph DePalma, who ran a conventional Packard powered by a 12-cylinder aircraft engine. On straightaways, the Golden Submarine fell behind the more powerful Packard, but Oldfield’s cornering prowess in his lighter car made up the distance.
During the next few years, the Golden Submarine was probably the safest vehicle on the track, but at 1600 pounds, its gross weight was greater than that of open-cockpit race cars. Oldfield raced the Submarine 54 times in two seasons. He won 20 times and scored a few seconds and thirds. In 1919, the Golden Submarine qualified for the Indianapolis 500 but dropped out with engine trouble.
Florida-based Dale Bell became aware of the Golden Submarine while he was having Illinois car builder Charles Glick make a 1935 Ford-Miller for the 2004 Great Race (Escape Roads, March 28, 2005).
“I loved Harry Miller’s forward-thinking concepts and became fascinated with the Golden Submarine,” said Bell. “No original exists, so last year, I decided to have Charlie build one to meet the Great Race’s 2007 specs. My Submarine is the only street-legal one in the United States. It’s been the superstar at every rally I’ve attended.”
Bell’s Golden Submarine is powered by a 1916 Chevy four-cylinder, similar in design and power to the 1917 Miller engine.
Glick made modifications such as concealed headlights and turn signals and added cockpit insulation. In the original vehicle, the exhaust pipe ran inside the cabin, making for a blistering-hot ride.
“Driving the original Golden Submarine without cockpit insulation must have been as noisy as riding in a megaphone at a football game,” said Glick. “With insulation, the race car is much easier to sit in now than in Barney Oldfield’s time.”
Source: By STEVE KASH
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