LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- With over 40 Kentucky Derby's under his belt, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who knows more about the history of Churchill Downs than Barry Northern.

Northern is a tour manager with the Kentucky Derby Museum who has shown thousands around the iconic racetrack over the past 11 years.

The 148th Run for the Roses will be the tour guide's 43rd Kentucky Derby.

"Being able to come here and give tours around Churchill Downs is just a labor of love for me," said Northern. "This place means a lot to me."

Popular visitors at the museum include kids, ranging in age from elementary to high school students. Northern says the museum and tours have something for all ages and it is fun to teach kids more about the track.

"We have an education program where we can teach them about math, science or history — all centered around horse racing," said Northern.

Tour Guide Barry Northern walks through Churchill Downs

Barry often provides tours to guests on golf carts, taking them to areas like the paddock, Millionaire's Row, beside the track and the backside.

No matter where the tour takes you, as long as you're riding with Northern you're guaranteed to learn something new, such as the origin of the name "The Kentucky Derby."

Northern will tell you the name stems from two Englishmen: the 12th Earl of Derby and his friend Sir Charles Bunbury. Derby lived on a big estate, known as "The Oaks."

"He had a 3-year-old filly and he thought she was very fast and wanted to race her against other 3-year-old fillies. They did it on his property and they called that race 'The Oaks,' so now we run 'The Kentucky Oaks,'" said Northern. "After doing that, they said, 'We're going to have to do one with the male horses.'"

The men weren't sure what to call it, so they flipped a coin and Derby won.

Barry Northern, Kentucky Derby Museum Tour Manager

"So you could be watching "The Kentucky Bunbury" instead of "The Kentucky Derby!" said Northern.

Another piece of history Northern likes explaining on tours is how it was determined that the Twin Spires is the oldest part of the facility.

"One of the ways we know that is if you look over the archways [below the Twin Spires], you'll see the initials 'J.C.' The original name of this racetrack was not Churchill Downs, it was called the Louisville Jockey Club, so that's what the J.C. stands for," said Northern. 

The first races were held after the grandson of famous explorer William Clark raised money to build the track on land owned by his uncles John and Henry Churchill.

"I think it was 1883 when somebody in the local newspaper referred to this place as Churchill Downs and then that name stuck," said Northern.

When taking guests into the Turf Club and through the Roses Lounge, Northern says he likes to challenge guests to tell him their birth year, and he'll give them a fun fact about the winner of that year's derby.

The reason Northern says he knows so much about the track is because going there was a normal part of his life growing up. 

He recalled regularly catching a bus with his mother, or calling a cab if they were running late, so that she could play the Daily Double. To win the Daily Double, you had to select the correct winners of the first two races.

"My brother and sisters would go to school, my dad would go to work and my mother and I would come to the racetrack. Mother was a $2 better, never bet much more than that," said Northern. "There wasn't much reason for mother to come, or she didn't care, if she couldn't get here for the Daily Double." 

While driving WDRB News crews around the track, Northern stopped his golf cart to point out the plaque of the 1921 Derby winner. The horse's name was Behave Yourself and Northern chuckled when sharing how whenever he started acting up as a child, his mother would look at him and say, "1921."

When it comes to watching the Derby, Northern says his memories start at 5 years old. 

"As a 5 year old, Uncle Joe pinned a button on me before he left to go to the racetrack and it said "I like Decidedly." I sat and watched Decidedly win in front of that black and white television that day and I have a pretty good recollection of all of them from that point on," said Northern.

The tour guide's first Derby Day at the track went down in history. On the day of the unbeaten Run for the Roses by Secretariat in 1973, Northern says he snuck into the Downs to enjoy race day.

"I sneaked through a hole in the fence and I made my way around to the tunnel because I wanted to get into the infield. I was 16 years old at that time and I got out in the infield with my buddy Marty, and it opened up our eyes I can tell you that," laughed Northern. "I had never seen anything quite like what was going on out there."

After partying in the infield for several hours, Northern realized he hadn't seen a race all day because of the large crowd and decided to get a better view.

"I decided to walk home and watch it on television so I didn't see Secretariat, but if I had stayed out in the middle I wasn't going to see him there either," said Northern. "When I tell the younger kids I work with in the museum that story these days, they want to know why I didn't just record it. That was pre-VCR so I knew in order to see Secretariat, I needed to get home and watch it on television."

When asked about the racehorse's speed, Northern said he doesn't really care which horse wins this year's Derby, but would like to see Secretariat's record stay intact because Derby 149 will mark 50 years since the record was set.

While he missed the iconic run, Northern did see a pretty infamous run the next year.

Northern points out famous 1974 Derby Streakers beside the track

"As soon as the horses ran by the first time, there were two guys ducked underneath that rail and they streaked across the race track right behind the horses. I never quite figured out what they did when they got to this side because they had left their clothes out in the middle so I'm not too sure. That was a wild year, that was the 100th derby back in 1974," he recalled.

Out of all his memories, Northern says one of his favorite parts about his job is the friends he's made through the years.

Barry Northern with KY Derby Museum takes crew on tour of backside

"A lot of these people area neighborhood folks that work around here and I've lived around here my whole life so many of them I knew before I started here," he said. "The ones that I've met here, especially on the backside area where the barns are, those folks, I have such great respect for how hard they work." 

Northern says he personally knows many trainers that he'd love to see win the Kentucky Derby so he bets with his heart more than he probably should.

"I've really gotten to know some of those people back there and I do like to bet on the horses and that probably hurts me because my heart gets into it more a little bit more than maybe it should," said Northern. 

To sign up to take a tour with the Kentucky Derby Museum, click here. 

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