When Board Tracks Ruled
Some of the biggest spectacles in the early days of racing at the turn of the century took place on expansive wooden tracks that powered America’s love affair with the automobile.
ON THE EVE of one of the biggest motorsports traditions in the U.S., the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500, it’s hard to envision a time when the masters of speed plied their trade not on bricks, asphalt or concrete, but instead wood.
From 1910 to the early 1930s, a couple dozen board tracks operated across the country, from Venice, Calif., to Laurel, Md. They ranged from halfmile circular tracks to ovals that stretched as far as 2 miles.
These were the daredevil days of racing. Drivers wore no fire suits and had only cloth helmets and gloves that provided minimal protection. In the earliest days, a mechanic rode beside the driver as well, putting two people in danger with every lap. And they weren’t the only ones taking risks.
“Photographers would pop their head out of the boards and take pictures and then duck back down before the cars ran over them,” said Bill Green, historian at the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen, N.Y. “Those were big cameras back then, too, so they really had to be brave to do that, but they got some great shots.”
Promoters had seen bicycles race on wooden tracks so they adapted the concept for car racing, with banking on some tracks topping 40 degrees. Wood was plentiful and cheap at the time so board tracks made sense.
In his book “Board Track: Guts, Gold & Glory,” Dick Wallen took a deep look into this interesting slice of Americana. A contribution to Wallen’s book by Phil Harms describes businessman Jack Prince as the father of board tracks who built or designed most of them. Construction took only weeks instead of months thanks to large work crews. “Anyone who could swing a hammer was enlisted into the gangs that would build the frame, add the support beams and finally the track surface, which was usually twoby-fours on edge,” Harms wrote.
The amount of wood needed was staggering. Robin Miller wrote in Wallen’s book that the 2-mile Cincinnati Motor Speedway, which opened in 1916, required 8,000 acres of timberland to be harvested, which calculated to 8 million feet of yellow pine. “Placed end to end, that was enough wood to run from Cincy to
New Orleans,” Miller wrote.
Budgets ranged from the low end of $30,000 for the Los Angeles Motordrome at Playa del Rey that opened in 1910, to $500,000 for Beverly Hills Speedway, which opened in 1920, according to the book. At a time, when cities had small numbers of registered automobiles, patrons typically rode the train or streetcars to attend a race. They would pay as little as $1 for general admission or $7 for a box seat. Race purses ranged from $15,000 to $30,000.
The tracks provided quite the spectacle, but just like anyone who has a wooden deck would understand, time takes its toll. The cost to maintain the surfaces and replace boards eventually spelled the end to board tracks, as operators switched to more durable and easier-to-maintain surfaces such as dirt, brick and asphalt.
For racing historians such as Green, the board track era remains a fascinating piece of racing lore. Said Green, “It was quite an experiment.”