The Cactus Derby

The legendary “Cactus Derby” automobile races kicked off when the automobile was still a bold new symbol of modern ingenuity. It was an era when most Americans, especially in the desert Southwest, regarded a long drive as an expedition rather than a road trip. This makes the exploits of a handful of daredevils that competed in one of the earliest major long-distance road races across the harshest terrain of the California and Arizona deserts, even more of an amazing story.

Officially the race series was promoted as the Desert Classic. But it is best remembered by a derisive name used by an early sportswriter. The annual races held between 1908 and 1914 were a test of endurance for man and machine.

The American automobile industry was just 15 years old when the first of these desert classics was organized in November 1908. The idea was born out of a discussion between Phoenix business owners about the future of the automobile, and whether gasoline or steam was the most practical.

With support from the Los Angeles Auto Club that was seeking to showcase the promise of the automobile while pressing for better roads in the sparsely populated Southwest, and the Arizona Republican, now the Arizona Republic, the race moved from idea to reality.

With no interstate highways, paved roads outside metropolitan areas, and few gas stations, early automobile races were literal adventures through country that was more often wilderness track than road. The Mojave Desert and landscapes of western Arizona were especially harsh and daunting. And for the 1914 race that followed the National Old Trails Road into Needles, and through the Black Mountains of Arizona, the challenges were magnified.

The inaugural race covered roughly 500 miles from Los Angeles to Phoenix, following routes that roughly mirror today’s Interstate 10. The course was largely little more than rugged desert tracks and wagon trails. Colonel F. C. Fenner won that maiden race in a steam powered White that was several years old. His average speed was 17.6 mph.

A different course was charted for each subsequent race. One year racers followed the coast south from Los Angeles to San Diego, then along the Mexican border to Yuma before sprinting for the finish line at the fairgrounds in Phoenix.

Another racecourse sent drivers through Mecca to El Centro before crossing the river at Yuma. But each of the races started at the Hollenbeck Hotel in Los Angeles and ended at the fairgrounds in Phoenix.

International media focus increased with each race. Likewise with the number of spectators that turned out in communities to watch the drivers roar through town or make pitstops. In 1914 a group of California business owners charted a train dubbed the “Howdy Special” to follow the race. But the “Howdyites” became so rowdy that when their train arrived in Needles, they were not allowed to disembark.

By 1914 the race had become a major motoring spectacle. And so, the list of entrants included some of the most famous drivers of the era including Barney Oldfield and Louis Chevrolet.

This race, the last in the series, started on November 9. Due to the increased distance, two overnight stops were scheduled, one in Needles, California, and one in Prescott, Arizona.

The new course followed the National Old Trails Highway, predecessor to historic Route 66, through the Cajon Pass, across the unforgiving Mojave Desert, into Needles, and then on Ash Fork Arizona. The racers then turned south and drove to Prescott, down the precipitous grade on Yarnell Hill and into Phoenix.

A diverse array of automotive manufacturers was represented at the starting line, The list included Chevrolet, Cadillac, Stutz, Simplex, Maxwell, and Paige. Each car carried a driver and a mechanic, an essential partner.

The race started in pouring rain. Within a few miles from the starting point a driver slid off the wet pavement and wrecked his car. A mix of snow and rain made the Cajon treacherous. Running washes, deep mud and rutted trails punished drivers and machines. The drivers that had survived the first leg of the race limped into Needles with cracked radiators, stripped gears, bent rims, and broke springs.

One of the more dramatic stories sparked rumors of sabotage. Between Essex, California, into Needles and through Kingman, Louis Chevrolet, Barney Oldfield, and the Nikrent brothers’ team were running neck and neck in spite of mechanical issues. At Seligman, Arizona after a promising start, Chevrolet’s car stalled and it was determined that the tank had been topped off with water instead of gasoline.

Other competitors faced other challenges. On two occasions, once near Topock and once on the New River near Phoenix, Barney Oldfield had to be pulled from deep sand. Another driver ingeniously used a fence post to repair a broken steering shaft.

In the end, only seven cars would reach the finish at the fairgrounds in Phoenix. Driver Louis Nikrent was the first to cross the finish line, but when total elapsed times were counted Barney Oldfield, piloting a Stutz, was 36 minutes quicker. This not only earned him the $2,500 purse but the cherished Master Driver of the World trophy.

The 1914 Cactus Derby was the last in the series. Yet the spirit of those early events lingered in American automotive culture. The races laid the groundwork for future endurance races. And it transformed some bold drivers into legends.

Today, travelers who cruise what was once the National Old Trails Road from Los Angeles through Needles to Ashfork along highways paved and smoothed, there are echoes of an age when a long drive was an odyssey, and a race across the desert was the ultimate testament to perseverance.

This story for The River 250 was written by Jim HInckley of Jim Hinckley’s America.