1930's - 1940's...

This car (above) appears to be the exact same racer shown in the photo near the bottom of the page of Barnett Collection photos (here).  In the Barnett photo, the #34 appears to be equipped with dual rear wheels, but here the car wears the more traditional tire arrangement.  If you have more information on this car or driver combination, please contact me here. 

---Photo from the collection of Anita Short

Well-known Dayton driver Doc Ashbaugh is shown here in one of his midget rides.  Doc was a frequent competitor at Dayton Speedway.

----Photo courtesy of the Gene Ingram collection

 A LUCKY MAN:  Here's the caption on this 1947 newspaper clipping:

             "Paul Walker, an entrant in the 100-lap pleasure car race at Dayton Speedway, wound up with back injuries hen his car toppled on the 68^th lap.  His auto, No. 6, is shown (top photo) as it tumbles.  Auto No. 11 which collided with Walker’s car, received a bunged-up side but continued around the track.

            In the middle photo, Walker (arrow) is shown pone on the track to which he was pitched by the impact.  In the bottom photo, cars are shown spinning around him.  The race was called on the 98^th lap."

This very early photograph of action at Dayton Speedway was taken sometime in the '30s.  There wasn't much banking at the speedway during this period and as you can see the preferred racing line was apparently quite low.  (It's equally likely tha the oiled surface is still visible down low because the racers tended to run high on the track.)  It's also hard to ignore what seems to be a significant dip or flattening of the track surface just in front of the tree in this photo.  It appears that the track surface is even with the grass surface on the outside of the track, but closer inspection (just over the head of the man walking up the hill towards the camera) reveals that there is a guardrail (probably made of wood) that is backed by an earthen berm stacked almost to the top of the rail.  The old Dayton workhouse is visible just beyond the tree.

---Photo from the collection of Gene Ingram

     We think this photo of Bill Brown was taken at Dayton Speedway around 1949.  Two things stand out in this picture.  First, the roll bar stops well short of the top of Bill's head.  Second, lurking just behind Brown's aircraft-style seat, without any shielding or protection, is the gas tank.  Is it any wonder that auto racing was such a dangerous sport in the early days?

                                                                                                                                  ---Photo from the collection of Gene Ingram

     Here's the start of a 1939 race at Dayton Speedway.  Race fans were hardy souls back then; you'll notice that there are no grandstands.  Spectators sat or stood for the entire event on the hillside.  FODS Karl Brown saw his first race at Dayton in 1939; he was 8 years old and attended with his mother and father.  Brown was hooked on racing from the very beginning, and clearly remembers that he and his family sat on a blanket in the first turn.

                                                                                                                                        ---Photo from the collection of Karl Brown

     [The photo above is very likely the oldest photo on this site.  The owner, Karl Brown, believes it was taken in 1939, but it might be a bit earlier.  FODS Rick Patterson has pointed out that it is the only photo on the site showing the track before the covered grandstands were built (making it the oldest photo without question), and he has also provided another photo (shown below) that is dated "c1939."  In that photo showing the #22 Bowles Hisso the covered grandstands are visible in the background.  If the Bowles photo dating is accurate (and assuming that the covered grandstands could not be built quickly) the Brown photo might be from 1938 or earlier.  For now, we'll assume that Karl Brown is accurate and the photo was taken in 1939, leaving the Bowles Hisso picture to date from much later in 1939 or possibly 1940.  If you have a better answer, please let me hear from you by contacting me here. --Mickey] 

    Here's the photo located by Rick Patterson:

     Here's the caption that appears with this photo:  "This photo of the #22 Bowles Hisso was taken at Dayton, Ohio c1939 -- Dr. Mark Bowles, Jr. collection.  Clay Corbit Driver."  You'll find the original posting at http://winfield.50megs.com/Adams/Doc.htm.

     It was hard to decide where this photo should be displayed.  In the upper left hand corner is a photo from a newspaper clipping showing a young muscular Spider Webb sitting in his sprint car in the late '40s or early '50s.  In the main picture, the older man in the striped shirt is...you guessed it...Spider Webb!  Remarkably, both driver and car survived those dangerous early days of auto racing to pose for this picture taken in the '80s when Webb and the Johnny Vance owned #2 made an appearance at Eldora Speedway near Rossberg, Ohio.  The car was restored by the famous Mutt Anderson of Xenia, Ohio.  So should the picture be here, in the 1930's - 1940's era, or should it be in the 1970's -1980's era?  I think you'll agree with me; Spider and the car were a product of the early days of racing, and they belong in the earlier time.

                                                                                                                            ---Photo from the collection of Karl Brown

     The photo collection below, identified by the drivers' names shown at the bottom of each photo were provided by Ron Titus.  The photos were taken from negatives prepared for advertising when the track reopened in 1976 and are the best quality available from that source. 

     These photos were taken from the grandstand probably by a fan using a Kodak Brownie or similar camera, and these are probably the oldes photos taken from the grandstand posted on this website.

     The track was opened in 1934 as a flat 5/8 mile dirt track,   In 1939 the track was converted to a high- banked 1/2 mile.  In the bottom photo it looks like the track in the background is banked.  That dates these photos to 1939 or very early into the 1940s.  That conclusion is supported by, again, the last picture which shows a man who appears to be wearing knickers, a fashion that did not survive WWII.

                                 ---All photos from the collection of Dave Kramer

     The photos that follow below were provided to us by FODS David King.  Unfortunately, David has no information about when the photos were taken or who is shown in the photos.  Of particular interest is the car that has not only crashed out of the speedway but may have also crashed out of Montgomery County and into a different time zone.  Were using the amazing crash photos as our Mystery Number Two here on the HELP! page.  If you have any information about these photos or this event or the date that this action took place, please contact me here.

                       ---All photos from the collection of David King

     In the photo above, one-legged Sparky Mace takes up a collection in the Dayton Speedway pits for driver Mel Hansen who was injured in a midget racing accident at Detroit's Motor City Speedway on September 8, 1949.  The accident severed Hansen's spinal cord leaving him paralyzed.  The man in the striped shirt is identified as "Hap" Clark, an AAA racing official who took the donations to Hansen in Detroit after the Dayton event. 

     Research by FODS Steven N. Levinson dates this photo and the one below to September 11, 1949.  By the way, Troy Ruttman won the feature on this particular day driving the Malloy Offy #4.

     In the photo below, Mace and a man we think is a local Dayton disc jockey, Moon Mullins, show the money collected.

                      ---Both photos are from the collection of Gene Ingram

      This photo was probably taken in 1949 or perhaps 1950.  In the foreground is the #38 Tom Cherry car from Muncie, Indiana.  In the background is the Ralph Potter 8 Ball car possibly driven at that time by Pat Kirkwood.

                                    ---Photo from the collection of Gene Ingram

     Here's how the "big cars" were hauled from race to race in the early days.  In the background are the brand new covered grandstands and open-air bleachers in turn one. 

---Photo from the collection of Karl Brown

     The driver of car #8 (wearing the white shirt and looking at the camera) is Hal Robson.  His brother George won the 1946 Indianapolis 500.

                                      ---Photo from the collection of Karl Brown

                                     ---Photo from the collection of Karl Brown

     This is the car driven by Spider Webb, one of the most popular drivers of the era.  The car now belongs to Johnny Vance and was restored by Xenia, Ohio native Mutt Anderson.   This is the same car shown in the larger photo at the top of this page.                                                           ---Photo from the collection of Karl Brown