Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life (1913) - The 4th of 12 Keystone Cops Movies

A virtuous lady, 'Mabel Sweet and Lovely' (Mabel Normand), courted by a gentleman, 'A Bashful Suitor' (Mack Sennett), is offered a corsage, which she accepts. They coyly share a kiss. After the Suitor leaves, the Villain (Ford Sterling) appears and grabs the lady. She rejects the improper advances of the villainous cad, hits him and escapes. This angers the Villain and he vows to get his way. At the next opportunity, the Villain kidnaps the lady, with the help of two henchmen, and chains her to the railway tracks.

The three villains travel by handcar to the station, where they assault two workers and steal a locomotive engine. The villains drive the train back towards the location of Mabel who is still tied to the tracks.

The railyard worker alerts the Suitor about the situation, who then rushes to ask his friend, racecar driver, Barney Oldfield for help.

The two friends jump in the automobile and race the speeding hijacked locomotive to rescue the damsel in distress. Mabel is dramatically saved at the last moment and is carried away to safety. The foiled villain kills his accomplice and shoots five Keystone cops arriving by handcar to arrest him. Finally he turns the gun on himself but upon discovering the bullet chamber empty, he drops dead in a rage.

A 1913 black & white silent comedy short, produced & directed by Mack Sennett, cinematography by Lee Bartholomew and Walter Wright, starring Sennett, Mabel Normand, Ford Sterling, Raymond Hatton, William Hauber, Helen Holmes, Rube Miller, Carmen Phillips, and Barney Oldfield as himself.

Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield (January 29, 1878 – October 4, 1946) was an American pioneer automobile racer; his name was synonymous with speed in the first two decades of the 20th century. After success in bicycle racing, he began auto racing in 1902 and continued until his retirement in 1918.

At age 16, Oldfield began serious bicycle racing in 1894 after officials from the "Dauntless" bicycle factory asked him to ride for the Ohio state championship. He came in second, and the race was a turning point. Oldfield was hired as a parts sales representative for the Stearns bicycle factory, and met Beatrice Lovetta Oatis, his future wife. They married in 1896, and Oldfield was paid by Stearns, based in Syracuse, N.Y., to race on its amateur team.

Oldfield was loaned a gasoline-powered bicycle to race at Salt Lake City. Through fellow racer Tom Cooper, he met entrepreneur Henry Ford, who was at the beginning of his career as an auto manufacturer in Michigan.

On June 20, 1903, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, Oldfield became the first driver to run a mile track in one minute flat, or 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). Two months later, he drove one mile in 55.8 seconds at the Empire City Race Track in Yonkers, New York.

Alexander Winton hired Oldfield as a professional driver and agreed to supply him with free cars for racing. Oldfield, his manager Ernest Moross, and agent Will Pickens traveled throughout the United States in a series of timed runs and match races, and he earned a reputation as a showman. Oldfield was the first American to become a celebrity solely for his ability to drive a car with great skill, speed, and daring. He liked to increase the drama in best of three matches: he would win the first part by a nose, lose the second, and win the third. Oldfield won first place at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on August 21, 1909 in a Mercedes Benz. He bought a Benz, and raised his speed in 1910 to 70.159 mph (112.910 km/h) while driving his "Blitzen Benz". Later in 1910 Oldfield reached the speed of 131.25 mph (211.23 km/h). At Daytona Beach, Florida, on March 16, 1910, in his Blitzen Benz, he set the world speed record, driving 131.724 mph, and he earned the nickname “speed king”.

Oldfield was suspended by the American Automobile Association (AAA) for his "outlaw" racing, and was unable to race at sanctioned events for much of his career. He made his career by being paid to set speed records, and conducting match races and exhibitions.

After being reinstated by the AAA, Oldfield competed in the 1914 and 1916 Indianapolis 500, finishing fifth in each attempt. He was the first person to run a 100-mile-per-hour lap. His 1914 Indy finish was in an Indianapolis-built Stutz, and he was the highest-finishing driver in an American car in a race that was dominated by European brands. In 1915 he won the Venice, California 300 road race.

Oldfield helped fellow racer Carl G. Fisher found the Fisher Automobile Company in Indianapolis, the first automobile dealership in the U.S. He also developed the 'Oldfield tire' for Firestone. In its slogan, Firestone touted Oldfield saying, "Firestone Tires are my only life insurance". In 1924, the Kimball Truck Co. of Los Angeles built the only 1924 Oldfield.

One of the earliest films to include the plot of a villain tying a young damsel to the tracks of an oncoming locomotive, a holdover from the Gaslight era of Victorian stage melodrama.