Not to steal your thunder, but I can help out a little with Avon. The track was known as the Avon Driving Park and just before the turn of the century, driving parks were Sunday meeting places for the wealthy to show off their best carriages, team of horses, dress clothes and general status. Doctors, lawyers, politicians and business owners would go to church, then to the driving park for a picnic lunch and to show off. As the automobile grew in popularity, driving parks at times were used to settle bets that a team of horses could beat the automobile. In many cases, driving parks became the nation's first speedways. Once the automobile steadily beat teams of horses, 2 car events were held. Most of the time these events were held against the clock. In some cases, they were staged head to head. By 1910, most driving parks had fallen to the automobile crowd.
The Avon Driving Park still exists, believe it or not. It's located at the end of Spring Street just outside of town on the south side. Thank you for sharing those pictures. I've been collecting images of relic race tracks for quite a while now, and these are the oldest I've seen from Avon.
If you ever run across images from Akron, PLEASE share. I've been to the Akron library and spent hours looking at microfiche of the Akron newspaper, I've been to Watkins Glen Motorsports Museum and Reference Center to research the track, and even interviewed neighbors surrounding the track and have yet to uncover a single image.
