Barney Oldfield in the Miller Golden Submarine - in Hi-Resolution!

Click to enlarge to Hi ResolutionIf any single image could highlight how much racing has changed, and yet how much it has stayed the same in nearly 100 years of motorsport, this might be it. The car -The Miller Golden Submarine of 1917- is arguably the first streamlined circuit racing car. Here we see the dawn of a new age of technological advancement, yet the cage-like stone guards and skinny balding tires remind us how primitive the vehicle really was.  Oldfield has the toughened, cigar-chomping look that speaks to the hardscrabble existence of many drivers at the time, who lived from race to race on starting money and worked on their own cars. But the confident look in his eye is that of a racer. And I suppose that look will never change. Click the photo above to see it in super hi res!

Some more photos of the Golden Submarine:

Via Shorpy