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 724-437-2116, or visit www.ohiopyle.info.