Boa

 

Board Track Racing was one of America's first favorite national passtimes that was held in the early 1900's. These tracks were called MOTORDROMES and were usually 1/2 mile to 1 mile long wooden track built on a 3:1 pitch. At one time there were over 50 tracks in existence. 

 

Most American National Championship races were contests and huge venues  developed during the 1920s. Board tracks were used in part because at that time,  they were fairly inexpensive to construct, yet lacked durability and required a great deal of maintenance to remain race ready. Many of the tracks survived for as little as three years before being abandoned. This was primarily due to lack of sealers and durable building products.

 

As the Great Depression developed in the early 1930s, board track racing disappeared rapidly. However, several of its most achieved aspects in racing have continued to influence the motorcycle industry. Including but not limited to: A technical emphasis on top speed produced by the steep banking; and ample track width to allow steady overtaking between competitors; as well as  the development of extensive grandstands or stadium-style spectator seating surrounding many of the courses.

 

One of the very first board tracks for motorized bicycle racing was the circular Los Angeles Motor Dome in Playa Del Ray, CA, built in 1910. This track was based on the same technology as ‘European Velo-Dromes’ used for bicycle racing, this track and others like it were constructed with 2-inch x 4-inch boards, often with turns banked at up to 45 degrees. At some tracks, such as the track at Culver City, banking was 50 degrees or more.

 

As tracks developed, longer tracks were later built - some up to 2 miles long as early as 1915 - and lap speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour became commonplace. Interest in the sport was exploding during this period and by 1929, 24 board tracks had been built throughout the USA, unfortunately by 1931, 20 of the 24 had been shut-down or abandoned, and all tracks in

1932 ceased to exist, and the championship races riding on boards were no more.

 

At the time these tracks were relatively inexpensive to construct compared to more permanent facilities – (for example) the total cost of the 2-mile Tacoma Speedway, was just $100,000 in 1915, comparing this  to the $700,000 spent in 1909 just to pave the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

 

Racing on these board tracks often drew large crowds of paying spectators. In 1915, a crowd of 80,000 was reported in Chicago, and only three weeks after, 60,000 attended the Indianapolis 500. Furthermore a relatively small and isolated Tacoma, who only had a population of  83,000 in 1910 had turned out 35,000 to see a race the year before.

 

PURSE 25K

 

To attract both competitors and race fans, racing promoters alike offered what at that time was considered a sensational amount of prize money –which could include a total purse of $25,000 and surprisingly was not unusual around the time of World War One. After WWI, Triple A (AAA as we know it) re-organized the National Championship Races. In the Early 1920’s to the end of 1931, AAA sanctioned a total of 123 championship races on 24 different race tracks, and 82 of those races were run on wooden surfaces, 12 were on the bricks of Indianapolis, and the other 29 were on dirt tracks.

 

Design and Safety

 

The first track in Playa del Rey Motor Drome had a bank of 3:1 pitch (or about 20 degrees), some tracks were built with even higher banking up to 60 degrees. 

 

The reality of these track designs were not properly engineered until construction of the Beverly Hills track in 1919 when Beverly Hills, designer ‘Art Pillsbury’, eventually worked on more than ½ of the championship board tracks nationwide, and deployed the first ‘Searle Spiral Easement Curve’ in which, effectively a car could steer itself primarily because of  the tracks geometry. These changes allowed higher cornering speeds and higher G-Force on drivers, but did not necessarily create greater safety. Driver fatalities continued into the 1920s, which took the lives of at least four Indianapolis winners.

 

Even when the bikes or cars did not crash, racing on a board track was very dangerous partially from flying wood splinters and primitive tire technology. Motorcycling, was also very dangerous due to lack of riders proper safety equipment. Fans used to sit above the track, and looked down at the racers. Sometimes when a rider lost control, he would drive off the track and into the crowd. On September 8, 1912, Eddie Hasha was killed, which also killed 4 spectators and injured 10 more. The New York Times started coining these tracks “Murder Dromes”. So in 1913, these races moved to dirt tracks because they were much safer, eventually the organization that was overseeing these races banned competitions on board tracks shorter than one mile. This caused sponsors and manufacturers to withdraw their support due to negative press.

 

THE END OF BOARD TRACKS

 

The largest demise of board tracks was costly maintenance. At that time, there were no suitable wood preservatives, and most tracks needed new boards fitted every three to five years. Most resurfacing required a million board feet of lumber per 1.25 miles of track. This was not a cost effective expense with sponsors and manufacturers dropping out.

 

Furthermore,  as speeds increased, overtaking became more difficult - the faster the racer would go, he would almost always win the race, this led to Race Fans to start turning their attention to the less-predictable racing that was taking place on dirt tracks.

 

Most board tracks disappeared from the National Championship scene in 1932, however a few smaller tracks did continue to operate for some years afterwards. For example, Coney Island hosted ‘Midget Racing’ until at least 1939, and the Castle Hill Speedway continued ‘Midget Racing’ until the late 1940’s.