When Midvale Speedway opened in 1953, it was one of three race tracks in Tuscarawas County, but it has long outlasted its other two competitors.
In the 1950s, fans of auto racing could attend events on Thursday evenings at a track in Strasburg operated by the Strasburg Volunteer Fire Department, on Saturday nights at the Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds in Dover and then on Sundays in Midvale.
"Stock car racing has really taken this county, as well as the state, by storm in the past couple of years, and now with the third track being built in the county and the Tappan Speedway Inc. making its grand opening this Sunday, local fans of stock car racing have more than an adequate number of tracks to watch the throttle jockeys manhandle their souped up autos," the Uhrichsville Evening Chronicle commented on June 12, 1953, several weeks before the track at Midvale opened.