Description

Topdog Presents: Always exciting stuff!

 

Offered here is a wonderful vintage celluloid pinback button featuring a photographic portrait of American racing driver Joe Barzda, measuring 2 inches in diameter with his name printed in bold black lettering across the top. The photo captures Barzda in his racing helmet and goggles pushed up around his neck, smiling directly at the camera. The reverse retains its original metal back with the wire safety-pin fastener intact and functional, showing honest age-related oxidation typical of a celluloid button of this vintage.

Joe Barzda (1915–1993) was one of the great journeyman stars of American midget and sprint car racing during its golden postwar era. A New Brunswick, New Jersey native, Barzda began racing in 1934 and joined the midget circuit in 1937, quickly becoming known for his distinctive all-white racing suit and necktie and for his skill coaxing winning performances out of Ford and Chevrolet engines at a time when rival Offenhauser powerplants dominated the sport. He served in World War II before returning to an intense postwar racing schedule, often competing five or six nights a week on dirt tracks across the northeast. In 1949 Barzda won the track championship at Staten Island Speedway and served that same year as president of the American Race Driver Club, the sport's premier midget racing organization. He made three attempts to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, in 1951, 1952, and 1953, notably piloting his own pre-war Maserati 8CTF Grand Prix car, though he was unable to start the race any of those years. Barzda retired from racing in 1959 following a crash at Williams Grove Speedway that claimed the life of fellow driver Van Johnson, and went on to run the California Speed and Sport Shop in New Jersey with his brother.

Celluloid photo buttons like this one were a popular way for fans to support their favorite drivers at midget and sprint car tracks throughout the postwar boom years of the sport, and surviving examples featuring named, identifiable drivers from this era are a nice, affordable niche within vintage auto racing memorabilia. Given Barzda's peak years of fame through his Indianapolis 500 qualifying attempts and track championship, this button most likely dates to the late 1940s through the early-to-mid 1950s.

Condition is honest and consistent with age: the celluloid surface shows overall toning, light surface soiling, and fine age crazing/hairline cracking scattered across the face, as pictured, along with a small age spot near the top edge. The pin back shows expected oxidation and tarnish but functions properly. Please review all photos closely, as they form part of the description, and reach out with any questions before purchasing.


See the photos they are part of description

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FLAT RATE S&H $7 in the US

 

 

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