Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing's

Personality of the Month
for September 2006

Tom Thomson

Tom Thomson, who became a member of the Harness Racing Hall of Fame in July of 2006 at Goshen, New York, followed in the footsteps of his father, Hank Thomson, when he started working as an errand boy for the Delaware, Ohio county fair in the 1950s as a teenager.

He later became Director of Racing of that famed half-mile oval in 1973--only the third person in harness racing history to hold that title.

Tom Thomson

Thomson was instrumental in modernizing the fair's pari-mutuel wagering system--making it much more "user friendly" in the mid 1980s.
Thomson also pushed and got national television coverage of the Little Brown Jug during the 80's as well, and has served for 15 years as the president of the Grand Circuit.

"It's a privilege to be honored for something you love to do," Thomson said during the Goshen Hall of Fame ceremonies. "To run the Jug and the Grand Circuit are just fun things that I love to do."

In addition, Thomson was named to the 1995 Little Brown Jug Wall of Fame, and was given the ring that his father had received as the initial inductee in 1985. In 1997 he was elected a trustee of The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame.

2006 Personality Archives
August: Tim Wilson, Sr.
July: Terry Hunt
June: George Smallsreed
May: Rick Moore
April: Kevin Mack
March: Tom Kelley
February: Dick Buxton
January: Walter Paisley