Joe Marsh, Jr. started out with a victory in the first race ever driven at the Hancock County Fairgrounds, during a spring matinee, and he’s been a champion ever since. That initial win provided the springboard for one of the world’s all-time great harness racing drivers, a man who captured the World Driving Championship in 1974. No other American, at the time, could lay claim to such an accomplishment. Marsh qualified three consecutive years (1973-75) for the World Driving Championship, a two-week whirlwind tour of races around the globe, against the sport’s top athletes. He was named ‘1973 Man of the Year’ by Harness Horseman International, an honor never bestowed upon a driver, after he led the nation in wins. In 1974, Marsh repeated as the United States’ top driver, qualifying him again for the World Driving Championship, which he captured by winning eight of 20 races in the series. The 52-year-old Marsh is past president of the New York Harness Horseman Association, and he was inducted into the Illinois Racing Hall of Fame in 1983. In 1986, he became the only driver in the U.S. to win over 100 races a year for 27 consecutive years. He developed the Findlay-based Joe Marsh, Jr. stable, a since-sold 115-acre training center, and breeding farm.