Barberton Speedway 1940s

Greetings ~

Barberton Speedway is located in Norton, Ohio. It was organized in 1948 and is still going strong. A good friend by the name of Ken Orr gave me a photo album a while back to look over. There were 43 photos, all 8x10 glossies, of drivers from the Midget Racers of Barberton Speedway. These are photos taken back in the late 1940s at other race tracks around the Akron, Ohio Area. Ken told me that a few is from the first race at Barberton, but he couldn't remember which ones. These drivers all raced at Barberton Speedway at one time or another.

There are both color and black & white pictures. A few also has racing stats on the backs. Ken's uncle, Bob Orr was one of the drivers. These pictures were possibly from Bob originally. I couldn't find any old photos of Barberton Speedway on the internet. And there is nothing about their 1940s Midget Racing. So, I thought that I should create this blog to highlight these pictures as historical artifacts. Possibly others have relatives who raced and just maybe their photos are in this collection.

All of the photos that are in the album are posted here. Also, if there are stats on the backs, they are posted here as well. A couple of the pictures have ads for Barberton area businesses.

Check them out, you may see listed here your uncle, grandfather or father. If not, you should have some fun looking at the old racing cars anyway.

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UPDATE: Ron Pollock sent a list of driver IDs to me that explain most of the photos. The information following each picture is from Ron. Thank you!

Sadly, on January 12, 2017, Ken Orr passed away from cancer. I count Ken as one of my best friends. He didn't talk much about his early years with his racing Orr relatives. But he was a really super guy. He loaned me this photo album so I could scan the pictures and create this blog. About a month before he died, he gave me the album. He said I would enjoy it much more than his family would. Ken died sitting in his recliner early that morning very relaxed and smiling. I can't think of a braver way to go.

Back in 1957 I built my first model car. It was this kit. Originally the kit is dated 1954. I've kept this model for the last 60+ years. (Talk about holding on to your stuff).

The tiny racer in the case with the model is a Monopoly game piece that I painted the same color. I managed to keep the entire kit, the box, car and even the instructions. I don't remember why I never got around to installing the driver. I painted his jacket blue but never assembled him. At the time I was six years old. I guess I had lost interest after a few hours. You know how kids are.