Last night’s NASCAR Cup race in Bristol Tennessee reminds me of what made NASCAR great. A lot of action ending with a classic wheel to wheel duel between two great drivers.
Matt Kenseth may be the coolest character since David Pearson, and Kasey Kahne is an amazing talent with a code of ethics. How cool is it to watch two great drivers run wheel to wheel, touch on several occasions, but refuse to win by taking their competitor out.
Congratulations to Wisconsin’s Matt Kenseth on win number 5 in 2013
“Matt Kenseth can sit on a hot stove and pee ice water better than anyone I’ve seen.” Darrell Waltrip…Twitter feed.
The Outsider
Sunday, August 25, 2013
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Steve Kinser…Biography
My first view of Steve Kinser was when I was living in Colorado and taking pictures for Midwest Racing News and other pubs. It was the late 1970s and the second year of The World of Outlaws sprint car circuit. They were visiting the high banked half mile dirt (then) called Colorado National Speedway in Erie, Colorado. The feature event included a young Bobby Unser Jr. and a very young Al Unser Jr. Bobby and Al Sr. watched from a Lincoln Continental that sat right in back of my photography position, which was trackside between the third and fourth turns. The Unser cousins did not do well but Veteran Rick Ferkel and young star Doug Wolfgang waged a war for the lead. In the end a teenager that I had not heard of ( I knew of his dad Bob), name Steve Kinser came up and stole the show. He has been winning ever since.
The WoO in those days rain with or without wings depending on the promoter’s choice. The Colorado race was run without wings.
As a photographer I encountered Steve Kinser on many other occasions. Santa Fe Raceway in Illinois, Butler Motor Speedway in Michigan, Hales Corners and Cedar Lake Raceways in Wisconsin. Of course Knoxville Raceway in Iowa and Eldora in Ohio and many others are also on my list. Steve won the majority of all the races I saw him compete in.
Steve also beat the greatest drivers of NASCAR, Indy Car Racing and road racing when he came home first in an IROC race at Talladega.
Please note as is often the case with an attempt to copy and past from another website, this one made for incorrect paragraph breaks. Hopefully you can follow this. It is loaded with info and it came from TrueSpeedCommunications
Icon. Champion. Winner. Motivator. Fierce competitor. Friend. Family man. Being characterized by any one of those descriptors would make most people proud, but to be defined by all of them would certainly result in royalty status.
That’s precisely the altitude from which Steve Kinser presides. Kinser is a legend in motorsports. Tabbed “The King of the Outlaws,” the 20-time World of Outlaws (WoO) champion has been described as the best there ever has been racing on dirt ovals. His results back up those claims. More than 800 career victories during his illustrious career earned him those accolades. High praise for a man who started out as a Southern Indiana boy simply wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps and be a racer. Ultimately, his dream became reality
Today, 34 seasons after competing in the first-ever WoO race in 1978, the 57-year-old still regularly intimidates the competition he battles on dirt tracks across the country. The same man still thrills the hundreds of thousands of fans who come out to see him perform his magic. The results of the 2011 WoO season proved “The King” still has plenty of magic up his sleeve. In his second season driving for Tony Stewart Racing (TSR), the Bloomington, Ind., native won three of the first four races behind the wheel of the No. 11 Bass Pro Shops/J.D. Byrider Chevy owned by reigning and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and fellow Hoosier Tony
Stewart. Kinser tied for a series-best nine WoO A-Feature victories in 2011 and finished third in the championship standings. Kinser will be chasing his 21st WoO title in 2012
There is great pride being from Indiana, and that dignity starts early in life. The third child of parents Bob and Cora Kinser grew up watching his father manhandle open-wheel cars around dirt tracks throughout his home state. His passion for racing matched that of his father.
Toughness has always been part of Kinser’s DNA, surfacing early in his competitive days. He grew up active in athletics and flourished in the sport of wrestling. His days at Bloomington High School included consecutive trips to the Indiana High School
Wrestling State Championships. A second-place finish his junior year was followed by his being crowned champion of the 132- pound class as a senior.
Following high school glory, he traded in his wrestling singlet for a helmet and driver’s uniform and began racing at the same venues where his dad learned the craft. Like his father, he also earned a living bricklaying. His days were filled with hard labor on job sites and weekends were filled with slinging dirt and grit at the track.
The King’s ascent to greatness began when America was celebrating its bicentennial. Kinser spent the 1976 season competing primarily on weekends at Indiana dirt ovals. He won 17 times, beginning with his first triumph on June 11, 1976, at his hometown track, Bloomington Speedway. With a year of competition under his belt, Kinser took on a much more aggressive schedule beginning with Florida races in February 1977. His victory total was five, including two at Bloomington, but the experience he earned positioned him perfectly for what was to come next. Timing is everything, and Ted Johnson’s vision of creating a Sprint car carnival that traveled coast-to-coast was a perfect opportunity for the talented driver. After accepting a ride in his distant cousin Karl’s potent machine, he gave up his days of laying bricks and traveled across the country racing in 1978, following Johnson’s band of Outlaws from venue to venue.
Kinser totaled 39 wins that season and quickly became a star in the sport. His 1978 WoO title began a championship run that included the first three World of Outlaws crowns. It was just the start and, as he continued his dominance of the Outlaws, he joined some of the sport’s greats by adding his name to the list of winners of the biggest races. His Knoxville (Iowa) Nationalstriumphs to start the 1980s only fueled a budding rivalry with Sammy Swindell and Doug Wolfgang. “The Big Three” dominated the sport throughout the decade with Kinser leading the way.
During the 1980s, Kinser’s status continued to evolve as evidenced by his record-setting 1987 campaign. That season, he won 56 short-track races, with 46 them being WoO A-Features, including 24 of the last 26. In total, he won seven WoO championships, six Knoxville (Iowa) Nationals, six Gold Cup Race of Champions victories and a pair of Kings Royal triumphs at Eldora Speedway from 1980 to 1988.
After a season of competing with the United Sprint Association in 1989, “The King” returned to the Outlaws in 1990 and regained his stronghold on the sport. While his rivals battled both injury (Wolfgang) and other motorsports career paths (Swindell), Kinser stayed the course and continued his domination.
His success didn’t go unnoticed by his peers. An invitation to compete in 1994 International Race of Champions (IROC) series validated his place in the motorsports hierarchy during the 1994 season. While he continued to set the pace in World of Outlaws action, he also showed his talent versus some of the sport’s elite drivers. In only his third start with the series, he was victorious at Talladega Superspeedway. That victory not only authenticated his abilities, but it also served as a victory for all short-track racing competitors.
Later that season, he was once again crowned Knoxville Nationals champion, putting him well on his way to WoO title number 14. It was during the Outlaws’ annual fall swing through California when the news that many had expected finally broke. Kinser was headed to NASCAR’s top division after signing a three-year contract with King Racing.
He closed out the Outlaw campaign with another championship and took the well wishes from his droves of fans into an offseason that had him rededicating himself to becoming a full-time stock car driver. Countless hours of studying and testing were spent in an effort to get up to speed for a NASCAR career that would begin with the 1995 Daytona 500.
Unfortunately, as good as his timing was in 1978 with the Outlaws, the same couldn’t be said in 1995 for Kinser in NASCAR. Too many variables weren’t meshing and his move to the Sprint Cup Series (then known as Winston Cup) clearly wasn’t going in the direction he had hoped. After only seven races, concluding with the First Union 400 on April 9 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.)Speedway, he made the decision to return to Sprint car racing.Kinser moved quickly and built a team to rejoin the World of Outlaws thanks to his relationship with Quaker State.
Thirty-three days after officially leaving NASCAR, he and his team, led by Scott Gerkin, were back competing with the Outlaws at the Action Track in Terre Haute, Ind. His first WoO victory as an owner-driver came in his seventh race and, later that summer, he made it clear he was back on top by scoring the $100,000-to-win Historical Big One and, eight days later, racing from his 14th starting position to win his fifth consecutive Knoxville Nationals. In all, he won 18 WoO features during the 1995 season. Kinser continued his winning ways with the Outlaws over the next two seasons, capturing 15 feature events and finishing fourth and third, respectively, in the championship standings. The highlight of 1997 didn’t come with the Outlaws for Kinser. It was during the month of May, when he realized his dream of qualifying for and then competing in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” He qualified 20 for the 81st Indianapolis 500 and finished 14th.
In 1998, he earned his first WoO championship as a team owner and 15h as a driver. He finished third in 1999 before winning
another WoO title in 2000.
During the 2002 season, Kinser earned his 12th Knoxville Nationals title and started another Kinseresque WoO title run by winning 20 A-Features. The run included three more championships and numerous additions to the record books along the way, including his 500th career WoO A-Feature win in March 2004 at Houston Raceway Park.
He competed in three consecutive IROC series from 2003 to 2005. His 2005 WoO championship was his 20thand capped a season that saw him pick up his 10th Eagle (Neb.) Nationals, sixth Kings Royal and 12th Gold Cup Race of Champions
His most recent seasons would be considered successful by most drivers, but not for Kinser. Six wins with the National Sprint Tour in 2006 were followed by a 10-win WoO season in 2007, which included his triumph in the 40th anniversary Don MartinMemorial at Lernerville (Pa.) Speedway. In 2008, he finished third in the WoO championship standings, came home fifth in 2009 and was third in 2010. Back and neck pain that Kinser believes originated from an IROC crash in 2005 continued to bother the champion in recent seasons. After offseason surgery in December 2009, Kinser has felt better than ever and consecutive championship-contending seasons with TSR only continued to build the legacy of “The King of the Outlaws.” Throughout his years behind the wheel and all the accomplishments he’s been part of, it’s still his family that brings him the most joy. His wife Dana has been his life partner and has been by his side through it all, but she spent most of the 2011 season recovering from heart surgery. Kinser is anxious to have her back by his side this season. They have raised three children together. Whether it was at their Bloomington home or the countless miles they spent traveling together going from race to race, they have always been a close-knit unit. The Kinser children all grew up experiencing the excitement of the racing lifestyle. Their daughter, Stevie, was always by Dad’s side from track to track and, ultimately, graduated from Indiana University. She has been an invaluable part of Steve Kinser
Racing (SKR) through years and remains in the family business today. In 2011, Kinser welcomed his first granddaughter, Haylee, to the family and held his daughter’s first baby proudly in a couple of victory lane photos last season.
Son Kraig followed his father into Sprint car racing and earned World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year honors in 2004. It was Kraig who provided his father with one of his most cherished moments in racing when he won the Knoxville Nationals in 2005. The 20- year-old joined his father to make up the only father-son duo to win the sport’s most prestigious event. In 2012, Kraig Kinser will be competing in his seventh season on the Outlaw circuit.
The Kinsers’ youngest son, Kurt, also followed his father’s path to success. Kurt repeated his dad’s high school wrestling glory by winning the Indiana state championship his senior season after, ironically, finishing second as a junior. Kurt recently completed his career as a scholarship wrestler for Indiana University.
Despite the several hundred pictures I have made of Steve Kinser in action (1978-2000), none remain, so I include these images from Google Photos.
The WoO in those days rain with or without wings depending on the promoter’s choice. The Colorado race was run without wings.
As a photographer I encountered Steve Kinser on many other occasions. Santa Fe Raceway in Illinois, Butler Motor Speedway in Michigan, Hales Corners and Cedar Lake Raceways in Wisconsin. Of course Knoxville Raceway in Iowa and Eldora in Ohio and many others are also on my list. Steve won the majority of all the races I saw him compete in.
Steve also beat the greatest drivers of NASCAR, Indy Car Racing and road racing when he came home first in an IROC race at Talladega.
Please note as is often the case with an attempt to copy and past from another website, this one made for incorrect paragraph breaks. Hopefully you can follow this. It is loaded with info and it came from TrueSpeedCommunications
Icon. Champion. Winner. Motivator. Fierce competitor. Friend. Family man. Being characterized by any one of those descriptors would make most people proud, but to be defined by all of them would certainly result in royalty status.
That’s precisely the altitude from which Steve Kinser presides. Kinser is a legend in motorsports. Tabbed “The King of the Outlaws,” the 20-time World of Outlaws (WoO) champion has been described as the best there ever has been racing on dirt ovals. His results back up those claims. More than 800 career victories during his illustrious career earned him those accolades. High praise for a man who started out as a Southern Indiana boy simply wanting to follow in his father’s footsteps and be a racer. Ultimately, his dream became reality
Today, 34 seasons after competing in the first-ever WoO race in 1978, the 57-year-old still regularly intimidates the competition he battles on dirt tracks across the country. The same man still thrills the hundreds of thousands of fans who come out to see him perform his magic. The results of the 2011 WoO season proved “The King” still has plenty of magic up his sleeve. In his second season driving for Tony Stewart Racing (TSR), the Bloomington, Ind., native won three of the first four races behind the wheel of the No. 11 Bass Pro Shops/J.D. Byrider Chevy owned by reigning and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion and fellow Hoosier Tony
Stewart. Kinser tied for a series-best nine WoO A-Feature victories in 2011 and finished third in the championship standings. Kinser will be chasing his 21st WoO title in 2012
There is great pride being from Indiana, and that dignity starts early in life. The third child of parents Bob and Cora Kinser grew up watching his father manhandle open-wheel cars around dirt tracks throughout his home state. His passion for racing matched that of his father.
Toughness has always been part of Kinser’s DNA, surfacing early in his competitive days. He grew up active in athletics and flourished in the sport of wrestling. His days at Bloomington High School included consecutive trips to the Indiana High School
Wrestling State Championships. A second-place finish his junior year was followed by his being crowned champion of the 132- pound class as a senior.
Following high school glory, he traded in his wrestling singlet for a helmet and driver’s uniform and began racing at the same venues where his dad learned the craft. Like his father, he also earned a living bricklaying. His days were filled with hard labor on job sites and weekends were filled with slinging dirt and grit at the track.
The King’s ascent to greatness began when America was celebrating its bicentennial. Kinser spent the 1976 season competing primarily on weekends at Indiana dirt ovals. He won 17 times, beginning with his first triumph on June 11, 1976, at his hometown track, Bloomington Speedway. With a year of competition under his belt, Kinser took on a much more aggressive schedule beginning with Florida races in February 1977. His victory total was five, including two at Bloomington, but the experience he earned positioned him perfectly for what was to come next. Timing is everything, and Ted Johnson’s vision of creating a Sprint car carnival that traveled coast-to-coast was a perfect opportunity for the talented driver. After accepting a ride in his distant cousin Karl’s potent machine, he gave up his days of laying bricks and traveled across the country racing in 1978, following Johnson’s band of Outlaws from venue to venue.
Kinser totaled 39 wins that season and quickly became a star in the sport. His 1978 WoO title began a championship run that included the first three World of Outlaws crowns. It was just the start and, as he continued his dominance of the Outlaws, he joined some of the sport’s greats by adding his name to the list of winners of the biggest races. His Knoxville (Iowa) Nationalstriumphs to start the 1980s only fueled a budding rivalry with Sammy Swindell and Doug Wolfgang. “The Big Three” dominated the sport throughout the decade with Kinser leading the way.
During the 1980s, Kinser’s status continued to evolve as evidenced by his record-setting 1987 campaign. That season, he won 56 short-track races, with 46 them being WoO A-Features, including 24 of the last 26. In total, he won seven WoO championships, six Knoxville (Iowa) Nationals, six Gold Cup Race of Champions victories and a pair of Kings Royal triumphs at Eldora Speedway from 1980 to 1988.
After a season of competing with the United Sprint Association in 1989, “The King” returned to the Outlaws in 1990 and regained his stronghold on the sport. While his rivals battled both injury (Wolfgang) and other motorsports career paths (Swindell), Kinser stayed the course and continued his domination.
His success didn’t go unnoticed by his peers. An invitation to compete in 1994 International Race of Champions (IROC) series validated his place in the motorsports hierarchy during the 1994 season. While he continued to set the pace in World of Outlaws action, he also showed his talent versus some of the sport’s elite drivers. In only his third start with the series, he was victorious at Talladega Superspeedway. That victory not only authenticated his abilities, but it also served as a victory for all short-track racing competitors.
Later that season, he was once again crowned Knoxville Nationals champion, putting him well on his way to WoO title number 14. It was during the Outlaws’ annual fall swing through California when the news that many had expected finally broke. Kinser was headed to NASCAR’s top division after signing a three-year contract with King Racing.
He closed out the Outlaw campaign with another championship and took the well wishes from his droves of fans into an offseason that had him rededicating himself to becoming a full-time stock car driver. Countless hours of studying and testing were spent in an effort to get up to speed for a NASCAR career that would begin with the 1995 Daytona 500.
Unfortunately, as good as his timing was in 1978 with the Outlaws, the same couldn’t be said in 1995 for Kinser in NASCAR. Too many variables weren’t meshing and his move to the Sprint Cup Series (then known as Winston Cup) clearly wasn’t going in the direction he had hoped. After only seven races, concluding with the First Union 400 on April 9 at North Wilkesboro (N.C.)Speedway, he made the decision to return to Sprint car racing.Kinser moved quickly and built a team to rejoin the World of Outlaws thanks to his relationship with Quaker State.
Thirty-three days after officially leaving NASCAR, he and his team, led by Scott Gerkin, were back competing with the Outlaws at the Action Track in Terre Haute, Ind. His first WoO victory as an owner-driver came in his seventh race and, later that summer, he made it clear he was back on top by scoring the $100,000-to-win Historical Big One and, eight days later, racing from his 14th starting position to win his fifth consecutive Knoxville Nationals. In all, he won 18 WoO features during the 1995 season. Kinser continued his winning ways with the Outlaws over the next two seasons, capturing 15 feature events and finishing fourth and third, respectively, in the championship standings. The highlight of 1997 didn’t come with the Outlaws for Kinser. It was during the month of May, when he realized his dream of qualifying for and then competing in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” He qualified 20 for the 81st Indianapolis 500 and finished 14th.
In 1998, he earned his first WoO championship as a team owner and 15h as a driver. He finished third in 1999 before winning
another WoO title in 2000.
During the 2002 season, Kinser earned his 12th Knoxville Nationals title and started another Kinseresque WoO title run by winning 20 A-Features. The run included three more championships and numerous additions to the record books along the way, including his 500th career WoO A-Feature win in March 2004 at Houston Raceway Park.
He competed in three consecutive IROC series from 2003 to 2005. His 2005 WoO championship was his 20thand capped a season that saw him pick up his 10th Eagle (Neb.) Nationals, sixth Kings Royal and 12th Gold Cup Race of Champions
His most recent seasons would be considered successful by most drivers, but not for Kinser. Six wins with the National Sprint Tour in 2006 were followed by a 10-win WoO season in 2007, which included his triumph in the 40th anniversary Don MartinMemorial at Lernerville (Pa.) Speedway. In 2008, he finished third in the WoO championship standings, came home fifth in 2009 and was third in 2010. Back and neck pain that Kinser believes originated from an IROC crash in 2005 continued to bother the champion in recent seasons. After offseason surgery in December 2009, Kinser has felt better than ever and consecutive championship-contending seasons with TSR only continued to build the legacy of “The King of the Outlaws.” Throughout his years behind the wheel and all the accomplishments he’s been part of, it’s still his family that brings him the most joy. His wife Dana has been his life partner and has been by his side through it all, but she spent most of the 2011 season recovering from heart surgery. Kinser is anxious to have her back by his side this season. They have raised three children together. Whether it was at their Bloomington home or the countless miles they spent traveling together going from race to race, they have always been a close-knit unit. The Kinser children all grew up experiencing the excitement of the racing lifestyle. Their daughter, Stevie, was always by Dad’s side from track to track and, ultimately, graduated from Indiana University. She has been an invaluable part of Steve Kinser
Racing (SKR) through years and remains in the family business today. In 2011, Kinser welcomed his first granddaughter, Haylee, to the family and held his daughter’s first baby proudly in a couple of victory lane photos last season.
Son Kraig followed his father into Sprint car racing and earned World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year honors in 2004. It was Kraig who provided his father with one of his most cherished moments in racing when he won the Knoxville Nationals in 2005. The 20- year-old joined his father to make up the only father-son duo to win the sport’s most prestigious event. In 2012, Kraig Kinser will be competing in his seventh season on the Outlaw circuit.
The Kinsers’ youngest son, Kurt, also followed his father’s path to success. Kurt repeated his dad’s high school wrestling glory by winning the Indiana state championship his senior season after, ironically, finishing second as a junior. Kurt recently completed his career as a scholarship wrestler for Indiana University.
Despite the several hundred pictures I have made of Steve Kinser in action (1978-2000), none remain, so I include these images from Google Photos.
Thank you for visiting The Outsider
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
I'm Back
Hello everybody. I have been doing other things recently but I have been keeping up with the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Indy Car and F1 seasons.
I have been mulling some new subjects for posts and stories on drivers like Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Sammy Swindell or Steve Kinser are being considered.
Because I have been gone so long I have thrown in a few of my pictures from 2002-2007. They have not been shown before and come from the usual places.
Late Model...NASCAR Race...Lake Geneva Raceway, Wisconsin
Badger Midgets, Sun Prairie Wisconsin
Indy Car (IRL then), The Milwaukee Mile
I appreciate your stopping by and please try us again within the week.
The Outsider
I have been mulling some new subjects for posts and stories on drivers like Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Sammy Swindell or Steve Kinser are being considered.
Because I have been gone so long I have thrown in a few of my pictures from 2002-2007. They have not been shown before and come from the usual places.
Late Model...NASCAR Race...Lake Geneva Raceway, Wisconsin
Badger Midgets, Sun Prairie Wisconsin
Indy Car (IRL then), The Milwaukee Mile
I appreciate your stopping by and please try us again within the week.
The Outsider
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Running The Boards
From around 1910-1929 there was a form of auto racing in America called Board Track Racing. High banked suicide missions. I have read about these venues since I was a little boy. I remember reading about one 1 ½ mile track in 1927 where speeds were in the high 140s mph (average) That is amazing in these anemic, spindly wheeled, upright, narrow race cars.
All of the information below came from Wikipedia. This means the formatting does not transfer when I copy and paste. If my memory serves me, the info is very accurate.
The photographs that I have included are from Shorpy Historical Photo Archives. The track is in Laurel Maryland in 1925
Board track racing was a type of
motorsport popular in the United States during the 1910s and 1920s. Competition was conducted on circular or oval race courses with surfaces composed of wooden planks. This type of track was first used for motorcycle competition, wherein they were called motordromes, before being adapted for use by various different types of racing cars. The majority of the American national championship races were contested at such venues during the 1920s.
Board tracks proliferated in part because they were inexpensive to construct, but they lacked durability and required a great deal of maintenance to remain usable. Many of the tracks survived for as little as three years before being abandoned.
With the onset of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, board track racing disappeared rapidly. However, several of its most notable aspects have continued to influence American motorsports up to the present day, including: A technical emphasis on raw speed produced by the steep banking; ample track width to allow steady overtaking between competitors; and the development of extensive grandstands or stadium-style spectator seating surrounding many of the courses.
History
The first board track for motor racing was the circular Los Angeles Motordrome in Playa del Rey, California, built in 1910.[1] Based on the same technology as European velodromes used for bicycle racing, this track and others like it were constructed with 2-inch (51 mm) x 4-inch (100 mm) boards, often with turns banked at up to 45 degrees. In some cases, such as the track at Culver City, banking was 50 degrees or more.[2] Longer tracks were later built - some up to 2 miles (3.2 km) long by 1915 - and lap speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour became commonplace.[3][4][5]
Interest in motorsport was exploding during this period and by 1929, at least 24 board tracks had been built around the country, although by 1931, 20 of the 24 had been shut-down or abandoned, and from 1932 on there were no more championship-level races run on boards.[6][7] The tracks were relatively inexpensive to construct compared to more permanent facilities - the total facility cost of the 2-mile (3.2 km) Tacoma Speedway was just $100,000 in 1915, compared to the $700,000 spent in 1909 just to pave the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) Indianapolis Motor Speedway.[8][9]
Location Track length Years active
Playa del Rey, California 1.0 mile (1.6 km) 1910–1913
Cotati, California 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1921–1922 Elmhurst, California 0.5 miles (0.80 km)
1911–1913 Kansas City, Missouri 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1922–1924 Chicago, Illinois 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
1915–1917 Altoona, Pennsylvania 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1923–1931 Des Moines, Iowa 1.0 mile (1.6 km)
1915–1917 Charlotte, North Carolina 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1924–1926 Omaha, Nebraska 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1915–1917 Culver City, California 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1924–1927 Brooklyn, New York 1.0 mile (1.6 km)
1915–1919 Salem, New Hampshire 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1925–1927 Tacoma, Washington 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
1915–1925 Laurel, Maryland 1.125 miles (1.811 km)
1925–1926 Uniontown, Pennsylvania 1.125 miles (1.811 km)
1916–1922 Miami, Florida 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1926–1927 Cincinnati, Ohio 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
1916–1919 Atlantic City, New Jersey 1.5 miles (2.4 km)
1926–1928 Beverly Hills, California 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1920–1924 Woodbridge, New Jersey 0.5 miles (0.80 km)
1929–1931 Fresno, California 1.0 mile (1.6 km)
1920–1927 Akron, Ohio 0.5 miles (0.80 km) unknown San Carlos, California 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1921–1922 Bridgeville, Pennsylvania 0.5 miles (0.80 km) unknown
Racing on these tracks often drew large crowds of paying spectators. In 1915, a crowd of 80,000 was reported in Chicago, three weeks after only 60,000 had attended the Indianapolis 500.[6] Relatively small and isolated Tacoma (population 83,000 in 1910) had turned out 35,000 to see a race the year before.[10][11] To attract both competitors and fans, race promoters offered what were then considered sensational amounts of prize money - a total purse of $25,000 was not unusual around the time of World War I.[12][13]
After WWI, the Automobile Association of America's Contest Board resumed and re-organized the National Championship system.[14] From the beginning of the 1920 season to the end of 1931, the AAA sanctioned a total of 123 championship racing events on 24 different race tracks, and 82 of those races were run on wooden surfaces. (Of the remainder, 12 were on the bricks of Indianapolis, and the other 29 were on dirt tracks or road courses.)[15]
Safety
The first track in Playa del Rey was banked at a 3:1 pitch (about 20 degrees), but later tracks were built with higher banking and some motorcycle tracks were banked up to 60 degrees. [16][17] Even though the physics of such track designs were intuitively obvious, it was not until construction of the Beverly Hills track in 1919 that builders began to incorporate engineering knowledge that had been known to railroads for decades. At Beverly Hills, designer Art Pillsbury, who eventually worked on more than half of the championship-caliber board tracks nationwide, first employed the
Searle Spiral Easement Curve, and the effect on car handling was pronounced.[18][19] According to Pillsbury, a correctly engineered track could be driven without steering input from the driver - the car would steer itself, simply due to the track geometry.[18]
The effects of theses changes were higher cornering speeds and higher G-forces on drivers, but not necessarily greater safety. Driver fatalities continued to mount on board tracks into the 1920s, and included four Indianapolis 500 winners, three of which occurred at the Altoona track (another Pillsbury design) in Tipton, Pennsylvania, and three in the same years in which the driver won at Indianapolis. Winner of the 1919 Indianapolis 500, Howdy Wilcox died in an Altoona race on September 4, 1923, while co-1924 winner Joe Boyer and 1929 winner Ray Keech both suffered fatal accidents at the facility in the same years as their Indianapolis 500 wins - Keech's occurring only seventeen days after, on June 15, 1929. Gaston Chevrolet, winner of the 1920 Indianapolis 500, perished that same autumn, on November 25, 1920, in a Thanksgiving Day race at Beverly Hills.[20]
Even when the cars did not crash, racing on a board track was exceedingly dangerous due to flying wood splinters and debris, and due to the primitive tire technology of the era.[21][22] In one oral history taken from a driver, he told a tale of wooden shards driven into the faces of drivers and riding mechanics, and sudden catastrophic tire failures caused by track conditions.[23] Cars were fitted with anti-splinter devices to protect their radiators.[24]
On the motorcycling motordromes, the situation was also very dangerous and the danger was aggravated by the riders' lack of proper safety equipment.[25] Fans sat above the top of the track, looking down at the racers. When a rider lost control, he could slip up off the track and into the crowd. Many fatalities occurred, often involving spectators. The velodrome at Nutley, New Jersey, a 1/8 mi (200 m) oval banked at 45 degrees (generating lap times of 8 seconds or less) and built from 1 in × 12 in (25 mm × 300 mm) lumber on edge, was "unquestionably the deadliest".[26] On September 8, 1912, "Texas Cyclone" Eddie Hasha was killed at a motordrome near Atlantic City in an accident that also killed 4 spectators and injured 10 more. The deaths made the front page of the New York Times,[27] and the press started calling the short 1/4 and 1/3 mile circuits "murderdromes".[17] The 1913 motorcycle championship races were moved to a dirt track because dirt was safer.[28] The national organization overseeing motorcycle racing banned all competitions on board tracks shorter than 1-mile (1.6 km) in 1919.[29] One by one, the manufacturers withdrew their support due to the negative publicity.[25]
The end of board tracks
A major contributor to the demise of board tracks was the high cost of
maintenance. There was no suitable wood preservative available, and depending on climate, tracks needed new boards every five years on average.[19] Resurfacing required as much as a million board feet of new lumber per 1.25 miles (2.01 km) of track, which would have cost around $125,000 at the prices prevalent at the time.[19] Thus, during the last decade of the board tracks, carpenters would repair the tracks from below, sometimes even during a race, while the cars raced overhead at 120 mph (190 km/h) or faster.[23]
An additional factor was that as speeds increased, overtaking became more difficult - the fastest car would almost always win the race, as long as it held together long enough to finish. This led to spectators turning their attention to the less-predictable racing that was taking place on dirt tracks.[30]
Though board tracks disappeared from the National Championship scene in 1932, a few smaller tracks did continue to operate for some years afterward. For instance, the Coney Island Velodrome hosted midget racing until at least 1939, and Castle Hill Speedway in the Bronx ran midgets into the 1940s.[31][32]
I thank you for stopping!!
The Outsider
All of the information below came from Wikipedia. This means the formatting does not transfer when I copy and paste. If my memory serves me, the info is very accurate.
The photographs that I have included are from Shorpy Historical Photo Archives. The track is in Laurel Maryland in 1925
Board track racing was a type of
motorsport popular in the United States during the 1910s and 1920s. Competition was conducted on circular or oval race courses with surfaces composed of wooden planks. This type of track was first used for motorcycle competition, wherein they were called motordromes, before being adapted for use by various different types of racing cars. The majority of the American national championship races were contested at such venues during the 1920s.
Board tracks proliferated in part because they were inexpensive to construct, but they lacked durability and required a great deal of maintenance to remain usable. Many of the tracks survived for as little as three years before being abandoned.
With the onset of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, board track racing disappeared rapidly. However, several of its most notable aspects have continued to influence American motorsports up to the present day, including: A technical emphasis on raw speed produced by the steep banking; ample track width to allow steady overtaking between competitors; and the development of extensive grandstands or stadium-style spectator seating surrounding many of the courses.
History
The first board track for motor racing was the circular Los Angeles Motordrome in Playa del Rey, California, built in 1910.[1] Based on the same technology as European velodromes used for bicycle racing, this track and others like it were constructed with 2-inch (51 mm) x 4-inch (100 mm) boards, often with turns banked at up to 45 degrees. In some cases, such as the track at Culver City, banking was 50 degrees or more.[2] Longer tracks were later built - some up to 2 miles (3.2 km) long by 1915 - and lap speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour became commonplace.[3][4][5]
Interest in motorsport was exploding during this period and by 1929, at least 24 board tracks had been built around the country, although by 1931, 20 of the 24 had been shut-down or abandoned, and from 1932 on there were no more championship-level races run on boards.[6][7] The tracks were relatively inexpensive to construct compared to more permanent facilities - the total facility cost of the 2-mile (3.2 km) Tacoma Speedway was just $100,000 in 1915, compared to the $700,000 spent in 1909 just to pave the 2.5-mile (4.0 km) Indianapolis Motor Speedway.[8][9]
Location Track length Years active
Playa del Rey, California 1.0 mile (1.6 km) 1910–1913
Cotati, California 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1921–1922 Elmhurst, California 0.5 miles (0.80 km)
1911–1913 Kansas City, Missouri 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1922–1924 Chicago, Illinois 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
1915–1917 Altoona, Pennsylvania 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1923–1931 Des Moines, Iowa 1.0 mile (1.6 km)
1915–1917 Charlotte, North Carolina 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1924–1926 Omaha, Nebraska 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1915–1917 Culver City, California 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1924–1927 Brooklyn, New York 1.0 mile (1.6 km)
1915–1919 Salem, New Hampshire 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1925–1927 Tacoma, Washington 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
1915–1925 Laurel, Maryland 1.125 miles (1.811 km)
1925–1926 Uniontown, Pennsylvania 1.125 miles (1.811 km)
1916–1922 Miami, Florida 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1926–1927 Cincinnati, Ohio 2.0 miles (3.2 km)
1916–1919 Atlantic City, New Jersey 1.5 miles (2.4 km)
1926–1928 Beverly Hills, California 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1920–1924 Woodbridge, New Jersey 0.5 miles (0.80 km)
1929–1931 Fresno, California 1.0 mile (1.6 km)
1920–1927 Akron, Ohio 0.5 miles (0.80 km) unknown San Carlos, California 1.25 miles (2.01 km)
1921–1922 Bridgeville, Pennsylvania 0.5 miles (0.80 km) unknown
Racing on these tracks often drew large crowds of paying spectators. In 1915, a crowd of 80,000 was reported in Chicago, three weeks after only 60,000 had attended the Indianapolis 500.[6] Relatively small and isolated Tacoma (population 83,000 in 1910) had turned out 35,000 to see a race the year before.[10][11] To attract both competitors and fans, race promoters offered what were then considered sensational amounts of prize money - a total purse of $25,000 was not unusual around the time of World War I.[12][13]
After WWI, the Automobile Association of America's Contest Board resumed and re-organized the National Championship system.[14] From the beginning of the 1920 season to the end of 1931, the AAA sanctioned a total of 123 championship racing events on 24 different race tracks, and 82 of those races were run on wooden surfaces. (Of the remainder, 12 were on the bricks of Indianapolis, and the other 29 were on dirt tracks or road courses.)[15]
Safety
The first track in Playa del Rey was banked at a 3:1 pitch (about 20 degrees), but later tracks were built with higher banking and some motorcycle tracks were banked up to 60 degrees. [16][17] Even though the physics of such track designs were intuitively obvious, it was not until construction of the Beverly Hills track in 1919 that builders began to incorporate engineering knowledge that had been known to railroads for decades. At Beverly Hills, designer Art Pillsbury, who eventually worked on more than half of the championship-caliber board tracks nationwide, first employed the
Searle Spiral Easement Curve, and the effect on car handling was pronounced.[18][19] According to Pillsbury, a correctly engineered track could be driven without steering input from the driver - the car would steer itself, simply due to the track geometry.[18]
The effects of theses changes were higher cornering speeds and higher G-forces on drivers, but not necessarily greater safety. Driver fatalities continued to mount on board tracks into the 1920s, and included four Indianapolis 500 winners, three of which occurred at the Altoona track (another Pillsbury design) in Tipton, Pennsylvania, and three in the same years in which the driver won at Indianapolis. Winner of the 1919 Indianapolis 500, Howdy Wilcox died in an Altoona race on September 4, 1923, while co-1924 winner Joe Boyer and 1929 winner Ray Keech both suffered fatal accidents at the facility in the same years as their Indianapolis 500 wins - Keech's occurring only seventeen days after, on June 15, 1929. Gaston Chevrolet, winner of the 1920 Indianapolis 500, perished that same autumn, on November 25, 1920, in a Thanksgiving Day race at Beverly Hills.[20]
Even when the cars did not crash, racing on a board track was exceedingly dangerous due to flying wood splinters and debris, and due to the primitive tire technology of the era.[21][22] In one oral history taken from a driver, he told a tale of wooden shards driven into the faces of drivers and riding mechanics, and sudden catastrophic tire failures caused by track conditions.[23] Cars were fitted with anti-splinter devices to protect their radiators.[24]
On the motorcycling motordromes, the situation was also very dangerous and the danger was aggravated by the riders' lack of proper safety equipment.[25] Fans sat above the top of the track, looking down at the racers. When a rider lost control, he could slip up off the track and into the crowd. Many fatalities occurred, often involving spectators. The velodrome at Nutley, New Jersey, a 1/8 mi (200 m) oval banked at 45 degrees (generating lap times of 8 seconds or less) and built from 1 in × 12 in (25 mm × 300 mm) lumber on edge, was "unquestionably the deadliest".[26] On September 8, 1912, "Texas Cyclone" Eddie Hasha was killed at a motordrome near Atlantic City in an accident that also killed 4 spectators and injured 10 more. The deaths made the front page of the New York Times,[27] and the press started calling the short 1/4 and 1/3 mile circuits "murderdromes".[17] The 1913 motorcycle championship races were moved to a dirt track because dirt was safer.[28] The national organization overseeing motorcycle racing banned all competitions on board tracks shorter than 1-mile (1.6 km) in 1919.[29] One by one, the manufacturers withdrew their support due to the negative publicity.[25]
The end of board tracks
A major contributor to the demise of board tracks was the high cost of
maintenance. There was no suitable wood preservative available, and depending on climate, tracks needed new boards every five years on average.[19] Resurfacing required as much as a million board feet of new lumber per 1.25 miles (2.01 km) of track, which would have cost around $125,000 at the prices prevalent at the time.[19] Thus, during the last decade of the board tracks, carpenters would repair the tracks from below, sometimes even during a race, while the cars raced overhead at 120 mph (190 km/h) or faster.[23]
An additional factor was that as speeds increased, overtaking became more difficult - the fastest car would almost always win the race, as long as it held together long enough to finish. This led to spectators turning their attention to the less-predictable racing that was taking place on dirt tracks.[30]
Though board tracks disappeared from the National Championship scene in 1932, a few smaller tracks did continue to operate for some years afterward. For instance, the Coney Island Velodrome hosted midget racing until at least 1939, and Castle Hill Speedway in the Bronx ran midgets into the 1940s.[31][32]
I thank you for stopping!!
The Outsider
Monday, March 11, 2013
Kenseth Takes Vegas
Congratulations to Wisconsin's Matt Kenseth for his win Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It was an emotional win for Matt as he scored his first win with Joe Gibbs Racing after spending his whole NASCAR Cup career to this point with Jack Roush. You can always tell when Matt is hungry. He out drove the a faster car (Kasey Kahne) and nervously called for his spotter to ask his crew to request that slower lapped cars move out of the way.
Good racing all the way around. There were plenty of side by side battles and lead changes.
Talk soon,
The Outsider
It was an emotional win for Matt as he scored his first win with Joe Gibbs Racing after spending his whole NASCAR Cup career to this point with Jack Roush. You can always tell when Matt is hungry. He out drove the a faster car (Kasey Kahne) and nervously called for his spotter to ask his crew to request that slower lapped cars move out of the way.
Good racing all the way around. There were plenty of side by side battles and lead changes.
Talk soon,
The Outsider
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
The B-side
Once again I will celebrate those B and C divisions that fill out the programs at short tracks all across America. A handful of A division cars does not a night of racing make. My hats off to you B and C guys and gals.
Today’s shots were made in Wisconsin from 2003-2007. Asphalt images are all from Lake Geneva Raceway (now gone) and the two dirt shots are from Wilmot Speedway.
Our first three shots are of a touring club called MARS. These cars are limited late models and were definitely good enough to be an A division at many tracks.
This next shot is of Sportsman. This is a C division that puts on a great show, and fills the promoters pockets with proceeds from the rear gate. These guys tend to bring a lot of family members and friends with them.
These next two are classic racers. Replicas of cars once driven by the likes of Junior Johnson, Fred Lorenzen, Norm Nelson and more. This was a touring club.
The final two pix are of IMCA Mods. These “low buck” open wheel cars are in fact the A division at many tracks cross America.
Thanks for stopping by and yall come back.
The Outsider
Today’s shots were made in Wisconsin from 2003-2007. Asphalt images are all from Lake Geneva Raceway (now gone) and the two dirt shots are from Wilmot Speedway.
Our first three shots are of a touring club called MARS. These cars are limited late models and were definitely good enough to be an A division at many tracks.
This next shot is of Sportsman. This is a C division that puts on a great show, and fills the promoters pockets with proceeds from the rear gate. These guys tend to bring a lot of family members and friends with them.
These next two are classic racers. Replicas of cars once driven by the likes of Junior Johnson, Fred Lorenzen, Norm Nelson and more. This was a touring club.
The final two pix are of IMCA Mods. These “low buck” open wheel cars are in fact the A division at many tracks cross America.
Thanks for stopping by and yall come back.
The Outsider
Monday, March 4, 2013
Bout Time
It was good to see Carl Edwards get back to the business of winning, yesterday at Phoenix. He and his team are too good to have this long of a dry spell.
On a second note about Phoenix, it is sad to see the great veteran Mark Martin, once again, run so good, and finish poorly. It is generally something beyond his control. Of course he set the pole and led the most laps at Phoenix. He did accomplish somewhat of a reverse to that scenario at Daytona when he really didn't show much all day but swept up for a third place finish. Maybe Las Vegas?
On a second note about Phoenix, it is sad to see the great veteran Mark Martin, once again, run so good, and finish poorly. It is generally something beyond his control. Of course he set the pole and led the most laps at Phoenix. He did accomplish somewhat of a reverse to that scenario at Daytona when he really didn't show much all day but swept up for a third place finish. Maybe Las Vegas?
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