In the mid 1990's, author and speaker Marci McGuinness, researched the history behind the Summit Mountian Hill Climbs and the famous Uniontown Speedway Boardtrack. She published a leather bound limited edition in 1996 and then a paperback edition that same year.
Recently, the author's publishing company, Shore Publications, has reproduced all 6 of her Yesteryear books and the Uniontown Speedway 1916 program.
Yesteryear at the Uniontown Speedway, Third Printing, was released in November 2008. You may now purchase copies of this rare collection of photographs and information about the men who ran the races, the race car drivers, and the highlights - like the astounding opening race trials in November 1916, when death and weather postponed the grand opening to May 1917.
Meet Charlie Johnson, Barney Oldfield, the Chevrolet Brothers, Carl Laemelle, Henry Ford and boardtrack designer, Jack Prince. All the details and great photographs make this book a must-have for race fans, history buffs and vintage car enthusiasts. Also included in the book are chapters on the Summit Mountain Hillclimbs 1913 - 1916, the Uniontown Speedways of the 1940's and 1950's, the Coal Baron Ball Team who played on the site, and Uniontown's own Mel Minnick, Sr. 1916 Uniontown Speedway Boardtrack Preliminary Opening Race Program - Reprint, 68pgs. Driver bios, Carl Laemelle of Universal Films, track designer, John Prince and Speedway Manager and rascal Charlie Johnson bios, history, details of track, race rules, 1916 advertisements, official AAA contest board records, list of entries, MORE! $9.95
ORDER FORM FOR AUTOGRAPHED COPIES AND SETS Yesteryear at the Uniontown Speedway - Buy Online Uniontown Speedway Program 1916 - Buy Online Marci McGuinness has written the Yesteryear at the Uniontown Speedway screenplay film adaptation , Speed Kings . Meet investors Henry Ford, Carl Laemelle, Willie Vanderbilt, silent film star, Vivian Prescott and her husband, Event Manager for the Speedway, George Titlow, who brought the elite to Uniontown, and Charlie Johnson who charmed the wealthy and a lovely starlet, before taking the money from the last race and running to Cuba.
Uniontown literaly flowed with money and millionaires during the coal and coke boom. Live early auto racing through the characters who created the excitement and the cars! Here's the pitch:
Speed Kings
Film adaptation of book Yesteryear at the Uniontown Speedway
by Marci Lynn McGuinness
It’s Leatherheads meets Seabiscuit.
Barney Oldfield and Ralph
DePalma are America’s Speed Kings in 1916, when Uniontown, Pennsylvania,
the wealthiest town in the country, builds the nation’s greatest automobile
racing board track. Charlie Johnson charms the funds out of Universal Films
President Carl Laemmele, Henry Ford, Willie Vanderbilt and steel barons, then after
7 years of fame and fortune, runs to Cuba with the money.
Relive early auto racing
through the lives of Tycoon, George Titlow, and Speed King, Charlie Johnson,
from 1902 through 1922. Meet Louis, Gaston and Arthur Chevrolet, Barney
Oldfield, Ralph DePalma and Tommy Milton. See them perform amazing feats in the
day’s top racing machines, going up to 109.46 mph on a 1 1/8 mile, steeply-banked,
wooden oval track.
Witness one of the worst
tragedies in racing history as 5 die at the Preliminary Opener. Dance with
George and Anna Titlow, Charlie Johnson and his loves, as they take film stars
and America’s
elite for an historical, heart-wrenching ride at the track during the coal and
coke boom.
Millions of racing fans,
automobile enthusiasts, and history buffs will race to theatres.
Marci McGuinness is the
author and publisher of over 20 books. She specializes in southwestern Pennsylvania regional
history, uncovering unique stories. The high energy writer speaks at car club
meetings and shows, schools, organizations and events, spreading the word about
the Uniontown Speedway board track and the development of the National Pike and
Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania.
McGuinness is presently
adapting Gone to Ohiopyle to film,
starring Chief Nemacolin, George Washington, General Braddock, Congressman
Andrew Stewart and Frank Lloyd Wright.
Recent reviews by: Hemmings Motor News, the Jaquar Journal, and
the Vette Gazette.
The author is seeking
representation for her screenplay, Speed
Kings, and future projects. If you are interested, please contact her by
phone or e mail.
They call it Ohiopyle, the deep valleys of southwesternmost Pennsylvania, which few realize today has an equally deep automotive heritage. First, it’s penetrated by U.S. Route 40, the original National Road, which first took pioneers into the great frontier west of the Alleghenies in the early 1800s. Automobiles were popular with the industrial elite from nearby Pittsburgh, and beginning in 1913, competitive hillclimbs took place on National Road. Later, a famed board speedway was built nearby.
This book Yesteryear at the Uniontown Speedway, tells its story. Ohiopyle historian Marci Lynn McGuinness has published a welcome, affordable look back at this track, which opened in 1916 at the dawn of the wild, dangerous board speedway era. At 1.125 miles around and with 34-degree banking in the corners, steeper than Daytona, Uniontown was deadly, claiming two drivers before Tommy Milton, later to twice win the Indianapolis 500, captured a 200-lapper on the boards. In 128 pages, with liberal photography, the author recounts the full history of the hillclimbs, the board track (which closed in 1922) and the dirt track that ran nearby, also in Hopwood, from 1940 through 1947. The book’s $24.95, but you can get it together with a reprint of the 1916 opening-day program for $30. To order, call 724-329-5336, or visit www.ohiopyle.info.
The crowd gathers in front of the Summit Hotel on top of Summit Mountain, Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Summit Mountain Hill Climbs preceded the Uniontown Speedway Boardtrack. Both attracted the rich and elite, brought in by special trains. 1914
A GREAT gift for that hard-to-buy-for man on your gift list!
Marci McGuinness, Author/Publisher
Shore Publications, P. O. Box 74, Ohiopyle, PA 15470
