Barney Meets Barney
Nebraska's
Arthur Barney Oldfield was named for the famous racecar driver Barney Oldfield.
The driver Barney Oldfield, was one of the country's most famous sports
figures in the early 1900s, and was the first man to drive faster than a
mile-a-minute. He accomplished this feat on June 20, 1903, driving a measured
mile in 59 3/4 seconds.
At
the age of four Nebraska's Barney met racecar Barney for the first time
at the Nebraska State Fair. Racecar Barney told his young namesake to
tell people they were cousins if anyone asked. Actually, the two were
related--Nebraska Barney's great grandfather and racecar Barney's grandfather
were brothers.
The
two met again in 1938 when Barney was working as a reporter in Lincoln
and corresponded until racecar Barney's death in 1946.