Altoona Speedway

10/06/2025

View of the former Altoona Speedway in Tipton, Blair County. The Speedway was 1.25 miles of board track and was in operation from 1923 to 1931. The Altoona Speedway was known as one of the world's fastest board race tracks at that time and crowds as large as 70,000 would attend. Over the years, the oval racetrack went through many transformations, becoming an airfield and then a drag-strip and finally an industrial park and today is the site of the New Pig Corporation plant in Tipton.
(Photo from https://www.facebook.com/AltoonaSpeedway)

04/24/2025

Scene at Altoona Speedway, Altoona, PA. The fastest drivers of America and Europe assemble here each Flag Day and Labor Day for the 250 - mile speed classic.

*personal postcard collection of Stephanie Hench, AGM

12/09/2024

Photo credit to Lloyd Smith.

09/01/2024

This weekend marks the 101st Anniversary of the first official race at Altoona Speedway, a board racetrack located in Tipton.

🏁: https://youtube.com/shorts/zWTHWU89y8I?si=cE6kxvOZnYtDlkIv

08/22/2024

Did you know an Indian Motorcycle had the namesake of Altoona?

The Altoona Motorcycle was Indian Motorcycle’s hottest racing model of the 1920s, and a holder of lap and speed records around the world. The Altoona Speedway was a 1.25-mile board track near Tipton where National Championship races were held in the 1920s usually on Labor Day. Winning at Altoona meant everything for advertising, and Indian applied “Altoona” to its 1926-28 factory racers, as the track was home to memorable victories, one of which will stand forever. On July 9, 1926, M.L. “Curley” Fredericks lapped Altoona at 114 MPH in a race—the highest speed ever recorded on a circular track—and his racer was immediately dubbed the “Altoona.” On August 21 in Rockingham, New Hampshire, on a 1.25-mile board track, Fredericks won both 61 CI events. On one lap he recorded a time of 37.25 seconds at 120.3 MPH, a landmark achievement and the fastest average speed ever recorded on a board track.

📸: An Indian Altoona

06/25/2024

How cool would it be to come across not one, but two Indian Altoonas in North Carolina?! Photos by Josh Hinterberger at Wheels through Time Museum, Maggie Valley

05/01/2024

03/13/2024

03/12/2024

03/11/2024

Altoona Speedway Construction

Construction of the Altoona Speedway board racetrack that began operation in 1923.

The track was one-and-a-quarter miles in length and operated until it was shut down in 1929 at the beginning of the Great Depression.

The fastest recorded lap on the track was 138.6 mph by Leon Duray during a test run in 1926.

📷: Via ISC Images

02/22/2024

Past Photo Thursday: The Altoona Speedway, a board race track that opened in 1923 and hosted the best racers of their time including several Indianapolis 500 winners, as seen in 1926.

If Altoona would have kept a racetrack, it is possible that Altoona could have been home to a NASCAR race today, based on the the popularity it had among drivers 100 years ago.