In November and December of 2024, the IMRRC received a wealth of rare photographs and associated printed material on early (1950s and 1960s) stock car and modified racing in western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. This material was provided by Ford Easton, who grew up in upstate New York and was an avid fan of racing in his youth, and is now recognized as an expert on racing in this genre. He is the author of the definitive book on the subject, “Stock Car Racing in the ’50s: Pictures and Memories from Western New York and Northwestern Pennsylvania” (2014).
Ray Jordan Wins, Olean Speedway, 1960s. Ford Easton Collection
In addition to an earlier donation of audio tapes containing interviews of drivers and race officials used in preparation of his book, Mr. Easton more recently donated several scrapbooks created by the late Norm Houston, a keen player in organizing and documenting stock car racing in Western New York in the early days. The scrapbooks contain extensive and rare photography pertaining to speedway racing on tracks like Angelica Raceway, Lancaster Speedway, and Wellsville Raceway in Western New York and Skyline Speedway and Troy Fairgrounds in Northwestern Pennsylvania, which were immensely active and popular in their day but some of which are long abandoned and largely forgotten by today’s generation of racing enthusiasts.
This collection includes copies of a weekly publication, Racing News, published in Cherry Creek and later Randolph, NY, which provides blow-by-blow coverage of speedway competition for the year 1955, the single year of its existence. This literature, together with the rich collection of rare photography in the Houston scrapbooks, preserves the legacy of drivers like Squirt Johns, the Bill and Herb Layfield families, and Dutch Hoag, as well as a host of other magnificent adventurers of a bygone era.