The World of Speed Archive in making its way to Collins Gallery at the Multnomah Central Library in downtown Portland for the month of September and October, celebrating the history, technology and culture of racing during the 1950s, '60s and '70s, with a focus on local racing, motorsports in pop culture, and the evolution of technology. Images include only a taste of the breadth of items that will be on display, as well as the content included in each of the twelve display cases.

New digital videos from the Archive are now available online including the first Rose Cup Races, the first time Indy car CART racing came to PIR in 1984, and the 1963 Portland Grand Prix as well as clips of 1950s-1980s jalopy, stock, motorcycles and sidecar racing, and film of Barney Oldfield. Enjoy! For more racing films from our collection, visit https://vimeo.com/worldofspeed.

It has been just over three years since World of Speed opened its doors to the public. And since then, we have been supported by individuals and organizations who have generously given images and artifacts to the Museum’s Archive Collection.  The World of Speed Archive is continuously finding ways to share the items donors and lenders have so generously brought into the World of Speed Collection. As we continue to preserve the history, technology and culture of motorsports to celebrate and educate for generations to come, we want to say thank you to the individuals and organizations that have contributed to the World of Speed Collection. 

During the early 1900s, car race tracks were yet to be an option. Instead, races happened on unpaved streets, later evolving in road race courses. In 1909, a few quiet Portland streets were turned into a race track, complete with crash and first aid car. While most of the streets named in the photo notes are no longer on a modern day Portland map, these photos are a peek into not only early racing but the early layout of Portland's city streets.

What could a Freez-D-Tector do and what does the Sun Motor Tester test? Along the way, check out a vintage blow torch, clamp, mechanics stethoscope, and the Ignition System Synchronizer built into a wooden box.

The Plotts Collection includes tens of thousands of slides. Unfortunately, we can't scan them all so we are asking for your help. We want to know what you are most interested in. Follow the link to pick the subjects you're most curious about and hit the Submit button.

The Archive volunteers have gotten their hands on some pretty great materials while helping to preserve a wide range of motorsports materials. Glenn has started to unpack a donation from a past Harley-Davidson store manager. Steve is taking on the papers of local Indy car designer Rolla Vollstedt while Gregg and Frank top off our annual magazine sorting project. Tom J. is incorporating new magazine issues and titles into our master magazine list after the annual volunteer sorting project. Meanwhile, Au has moved to the prints collection of SIR track photographer Jeff Dykes.

With over 400 magazine titles covering decades of racing, cars, motorcycles, models and more, the World of Speed Archive can help. If you've got a subject that's peaked your interest, we can suggest titles or time periods to sift through for that perfect article or subject you've been craving to find out more about. From niche titles to international brands, these magazines have a wealth of information from how-tos to who's who's. Check out our list of all magazine title available.

Just a taste of the many books from bio picks to behind-the-scenes exposés, award winning cars to engineering feats, motorcycle care to auto math, and even pulp fiction. Books reviewed include: Behind the Wall: A Season on the NASCAR Circuit; Faster! A Racer’s Diary; Drag Racing’s Quarter-Mile Warriors; Offenhauser: The Legendary Racing Engine and the Men Who Built It; Road Race of Champions; Auto Math Handbook: Calculations, Formulas, Equations and Theory for Automotive Enthusiasts; Motorcycle Detailing Made Easy; and Cobra: the First 40 Years.

If you've missed any of the latest additions to Inside the World of Speed Archive, here's a quick list of links where you can find hundreds of scanned photos and complete scrapbooks from our collection, highlights of local legends and surprising stories, as well as print and video interviews and presentations. 

The Granatelli Technical Drawings Collection includes over 4000 drawings and covers the multiple business Granatelli was connected to from Grancor onto Studebaker, Paxton, and STP as well as the multiple relationships with parts developers and builders along the way including Novi, McNamara, McCulloch, and Ferguson and many more. The small collection of scanned images of oversized blueprints and hand drawings below are made possible with the help of Kelley Imaging Services located in Tigard, OR.

Herm Petersen’s scrapbook contains over 100 pages of drag racing history during the 1970s with numerous local newspaper clippings and magazine covers, much having to do with his own harrowing career as well as other racers thriving in the Pacific Northwest and on the national stage at the time, including Don Garlits, Jerry Ruth, Gaines Markley and Bob Mitchell.

Did you know that the framing of the large projector screen at World of Speed is designed to replicate the drive-in movie theater that was a quintessential part of Portland Speedway?

Check out photos of Portland Speedway alongside images of World of Speed as well as range of items from the World of Speed Archive’s collection highlighting the Speedway’s 75 years of racing before closing in 2001.

World of Speed members can now check out books from our collection of motorsports-related books. You'll find 100s of books focused on tracks, makes and models, early automobiles and motorcycles, unique vehicles, specs and records, biographies, fiction, and all kinds of racing from NASCAR to Indy.

Using images and technical drawings from the World of Speed Archive's Granatelli Collection, volunteer Tom Stycznski elaborates on his volunteer talk presentation covering Andy and his development of race cars starting with his early years in Chicago, building Grancor and the Hurricane Hot Rod Association along with his early years in race promotion. Learn about his relationship with McCulloch, Paxton and Studebaker; the development of the Novi engine for Indy car racing; and the partnership with Ferguson to get it to the Indy 500; and then finally the move to the turbine engine and Andy's relationship with STP. Also, check out blueprints and technical drawing of the 1969 Indy car and the land speed record Avanti. 

Part of the early hot rod SoCal scene of performance car shops, Bob Tattersfield of Electric & Carburetor Engineering Co., built speed parts during the late 1940s and early 1950s including dual manifolds and superchargers. Tattersfield partnered up with Frank Baron to build the Tattersfield-Baron Special streamliner race car. Check out the flipbook of images from WOS Archive Tattersfield photo collection.

With images and artifacts from the Collection along with researching local newspapers, WOS Archive Associate Archivist Sara Paulson shares the story of the TWO Rose City Speedways of Portland, once from the beginning of the 20th century and one re-branded just in time for the 1980s. Spoiler alert, it includes the now Rose City Golf Course and the now closed Portland Speedway.

The World of Speed Archive recently scanned a group of images from our Collection covering the first transcontinental race (Photo Profile - 1905 Transcontinental Race, WOS#3805). Check out how on May 8, 1905, a pair of 7-horsepower Curved Dash Oldsmobile Runabouts, notably Old Scout and Old Steady, made their way from New York City to Portland, Oregon.

The Pacific Northwest Community Racing Timeline shares moments in local motorsports history. Experience firsthand accounts and historical moments of early tracks, those behind the wheel or in the stands, clubs and cars, local heroes and all those that make up the Pacific Northwest's rich motorsports experience.

The PNW Racing Timeline is generated from material included in the World of Speed Archive as well as submissions provided by visitors to the Museum during American Archive Month (2017) as well as through our online submission form. To be part of the experience, contribute at http://www.worldofspeed.org/pnw-community-racing-timeline.

Found amongst the thousands of papers from the Granatelli estate recently donated to World of Speed, "A Gas Turbine Powered Car for Championship Class Racing" is at its core, a pitch to possible investors and partners (some, not necessarily "motorheads") to help back the develop of a gas-powered turbine Indy car for the 1967 Indy 500 with clear easy-to-read sections covering sometimes-hard-to-understand elements (especially for those who don't know the ins-and-outs of cars) needed to produce a high performance race car specifically for the Indy 500.

These photos (WOS#2388) part of the World of Speed Archive were collected over the years with a focus on early and mid 20th century photographs that included atleast one car. Each of the over 200 images has a car included whether as a center point of a family portrait, in the background of life's moments, in your familiar streets, or around the world. Together, these photos give a snapshot not just of the cars at the time but a peak into friendships, fashion, personal pride, city life, small towns, families, and strange and familiar moments. 

If you missed the World of Speed Archive's free "Preserve Now, Find Later!" as part of American Archive Month in October here at the museum with Archivist Katrina O'Brien or more recently at Tigard Public Library, check out some simple things you can do to take care of your family heirlooms and collectibles, including things to look out for and how to best store and label. 

Each year, World of Speed highlights a new group of women in motorsports through artifacts, images, videos and words. This year's Women in Racing - Open Wheel Edition showcases Janet Guthrie, Danica Patrick, and local Lindsay Barney. Look back on the past and check out material from previously highlighted women including Lyn St James, Cindi Lux, and Michelle Miller; as well as video of local racer Ariel Biggs.

Over the last six months, volunteers have been plugging away, working on two large donated collections in the archive processing room. On the right, archive volunteer Megan has been steadily moving through the Scott collection while on the left, a team of volunteers starting with Susan and then handed off to Glenn and just recently adding Au are pushing to get through a mountain of slides. Which collection will be done first?!

World of Speed is proud to highlight the life work of Everett Duncan through a collection of photos and artifacts donated to the museum. With roots in the Pacific NW, Duncan went to work for famed race car builder Kurtis Kraft in 1946. Later, in 1954 Duncan joined Quin Epperly, who pioneered the "laydown Offy" car design. Duncan's cars saw action all over the US, from the dirt ovals of Southern California to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Some of the cars that Duncan worked on have historical interest and value even many years later, including the Demler Special and the Vukovich Indy Streamliner.

The PNW Community Racing Timeline is made from the experiences shared by individuals throughout the region. You’ll see a family through decades of racing, migration up and down the west coast, tracks as social hubs come and gone, a local legend’s final moment, a small girl thrill of racing, family connections, historical changes, mechanical evolution, personal triumphs and celebrity fandom. You can still add your stories and even images anytime to the PNW Community Racing Timeline online. Starting in November, the Archive will begin building the interactive timeline including stories submitted online and from the initial whiteboards. The World of Speed Archive is excited to build, preserve and share this local racing timeline that highlights the people, places and experiences.

Missed this month's volunteer talk? Fear not. Flip through the pages and learn about the collections and scrapbook projects undertaken by World of Speed Archive volunteers! Check out the scrapbooks and collections of Sue Mitchell, Everett Duncan, Art Pollard, Steve Denbo, John Fuez, Andy Granatelli, Pat Usher, Bobby Plotts, and PR Scott.Thanks to all the Archive Volunteers including Au Nguyen, Steve Diez, Frank Bakanau, Tom Styczynski, Glenn Wong, Susan Stone, and Megan Glazier-Anderson.

Explore the scrapbooks of 1960s Indy race car fabricator and mechanic local John Feuz who worked on cars designed by Rolla Vollstedt and driven by Len Sutton, Billy Foster, and Cale Yarborough. Filled with articles, photographs, papers, these scrapbooks primarily contain newspaper articles and photographs from 1964 to 1966. The focus of most of the materials cover a transitional and innovative time when rear engine cars were coming into vogue along with major changes in body styles and suspension packages.  Drivers A. J. Foyt, Parnelli Jones, Jimmy Clark, Roger Ward, Bobby Unser, and Graham Hill are also included while covering both the triumphs and tragedies of the Indianapolis 500 participants and provide a real look into three years that were pivotal for the race.