Title	Eddie Rickenbacker in a "Blitzen Benz"
Description	Eddie Rickenbacker seated in a "Blitzen Benz" race car. Only six of these cars were ever made. According to Rickenbacker biographer W. David Lewis, Barney Oldfield "set a world record of 131 miles per hour in Florida on the beach between Ormond and Daytona driving the "Blitzen Benz" a legendary Mercedes with a bullet-shaped snout, a pointed tail, and a 200-horsepower engine." In 1910, in his first big race, Rickenbacker raced against Oldfield in Columbus, Ohio and almost beat him. Oldfield headed the Maxwell Race Team when Rickenbacker joined in 1915. Ernest A. Moross, who took over when Oldfield left Maxwell, owned the "Blitzen Benz" and used it as a publicity tool.
Creator	Unknown
Publisher	Auburn University Libraries
Date	ca. 1915
Decade	1910s
LC Subject Headings	Rickenbacker, Eddie, 1890-1973 Automobile racing Automobile racing drivers Automobiles Mercedes automobile Oldfield, Barney, 1878-1946
Subject Headings	Maxwell Motor Company
Format	JPEG
Type	Image
Technical Information	Black and White Photo
Accession Number	101-97-054-2-003
Collection	Eddie Rickenbacker Papers
Repository	Auburn University. Special Collections and Archives
Language	eng
Rights	This image is the property of the Auburn University Libraries and is intended for non-commercial use. Users of the image are asked to acknowledge the Auburn University Libraries. For information about obtaining high-resolution copies of this and other images in this collection, please contact the Auburn University Libraries Special Collections & Archives Department at archives@auburn.edu or (334) 844-1732.
Submitted by	Abernethy, Lynn
Date Submitted	2007-02-08