THE PETERSON PHOTOS...

     I wouldn't ordinarily give a set of photos from any one source their own page here at DSL, but these photos are special and I wanted everyone to get to see them before they join the rest of the photos in one of the main decade galleries.  These photographs were shot by Ray Peterson, an amateur photographer, in the 1948 - 1950 time period.  He used a Leica rangefinder camera without any sort of telephoto lens.

     I think that you will agree with me that the colors are so rich and bright these photos could have been taken last week.  Instead they are over a half-century old.

     The photos are now in the collection of that amateur photographer's son, Skip, who is a pretty fair photographer in his own right; he was the long-time chief photographer for the Dayton Daily News!

     Skip has agreed to make these photos available to FODS.  Contact Skip at (937) 603-7601 ( or you can reach him at www.skippetersonphotography.com ) for pricing and additional details.

SKIP HAS PROMISED ADDITIONAL PHOTOS

FOR THE DAYTON SPEEDWAY LIVES SITE!

PLEASE CHECK BACK!

     Duane Carter leads a heat race lineup at Dayton Speedway in 1950.

                                                           Copyright 1950, Ray Peterson, from the Skip Peterson Collection

     Troy Ruttman leads the start of a race at Dayton Spedway in 1949.  The yellow car is believed to be driven by Jackie Holmes.                                 Copyright 1949, Ray Peterson, from the Skip Peterson Collection

     Ted Horn is shown entering turn 1 at Dayton Speedway in 1948.  Horn raced twice in 1948 at Dayton, in June and in August, and he won both 50 lap races.  Not the spectators lining the guard rail of the quarter mile track in the infield of Dayton.                  Copyright 1948 Ray Peterson, from the Skip Peterson Collection.

     Ted Horn (white car) is shown at speed at Dayton Speedway in 1948.

                                                                Copyright 1948, Ray Peterson, from the Skip Peterson Collection

     In the photo above, 1950's era stock cars race out of the second corner at Dayton Speedway on the backstretch.  Those of us who are used to seeing stock cars of this era only in black and white photographs will be surprised to see that at least some of the cars sported colorful paint schemes.  In the photo below, the same stock cars line up on the quarter-mile infield track and prepare for qualifying.  We're working to try to date these photos more precisely; they could be cars running under the NASCAR banner.

                                                ---Photos copyright 1950 Ray Peterson,from the Skip Peterson Collection