  We compute, in the framework of renormalon calculus, the ${\cal
O}(\Lambda_{\rm QCD})$ corrections to the production of $t\bar{t}$ pairs in
hadron collisions under the assumption that $q \bar q \to t \bar t$ is the
dominant partonic channel. This assumption is not applicable to top quark pair
production at the LHC but it is valid for the Tevatron where collisions of
protons and anti-protons were studied. We show that the linear power correction
to the total $t \bar t$ production cross section vanishes provided one uses a
short-distance scheme for the top quark mass. We also derive relatively simple
formulas for the power corrections to top quark kinematic distributions.
Although small numerically, these power corrections exhibit interesting
dependencies on top quark kinematics.
