Open wheel legends Jud Larson and Bob Slater were also among the participants. Indy 500 star Lloyd Ruby and Nebraska Auto Racing Hall of Famer Bobby Parker picked up multiple wins in the Midgets during this era. He would later drive in 10 Indy 500’s and after retiring as a driver, become Chief Steward at Indy. Of course, 1938 just happened to be the year McQuinn scored an amazing 61 feature wins in a Midget. McQuinn defeated a strong field of drivers including Carl Forberg, Danny Oakes, Eddie Kracek and others. That first year of Midget racing saw both day races dominated by Nineveh, Ind., native Harry McQuinn. The Midget era started at Ord in 1938 and ran off and on at Ord through 1956. Also winning at Ord during this time was Joie Chitwood, who would later go on to found the famous Joie Chitwood Auto Thrill Show. The great Lloyd Axel who would become the winningest driver in Ord racing history dominated the 1935 to 1937 era of racing at Ord. In 1935, racing resumed at Ord under the direction of Clyde Baker, who was the race superintendent at Ord from 1929 through 1951. The Loup Valley Fair, as it was sometimes called, was discontinued from 1932 to 1934 because of the depression, despite large crowds at the auto races. Olney had failed to attract either racers or fans.

The World Herald ran an article calling Ord, a bullring, and the Quiz responded by pointing out that Omaha promoter D. This broke the track record set by John Bagley in 1928, and led to a war of words between the Ord Quiz and the Omaha World Herald.

AAA did not sanction the races the next day but it didn’t stop Gerber in setting a new track record of 26.46 seconds. In that race Gerber had to contend with the likes of Sam Hoffman, Johnny Kreiger, Leonard Krebs, Arch Powell, Bert Ficken and others. The first race of 1930 saw an especially stout field of cars, in a race sanctioned by AAA (the forerunner to USAC). The cars of these days had few if any, safety features and the drivers usually drove with leather helmets, which were no protection if the car flipped or the drivers were thrown from the car.īig name drivers continued to appear at Ord in 19, but it was the legendary Johnny Gerber of Stanwood, Iowa, who dominated both years winning all six features. Unfortunately, driver Sam Larson was killed during qualifying.

The year 1929 saw Sioux City native and later Omaha resident Sam Hoffman take two out of three features.

In 19, Omaha’s John Bagley won two of three events each year.

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