Rare Board Track Racing Video

 This is very cool...
I've read about the "Board Track Racing" that ocurred almost a century
ago, and I've seen some still pictures, but I've never seen a video
before, until today, and I never knew they were so fast!

http://www.jockeyjournal.com/?p#5

This track is way bigger than I imagined.
130 MPH (in 1920) is way fast!
--
Rayvan

 On Tue, 18 Dec 2007 16:32:46 -0800 (PST), Rayvan


That is cool. Back in the 60's, I took a JC machine shop class from
Blacky Blackington. He was a real geezer back then, and he'd regale us
with stories of the old days, which was probably about the time of the
film. He enjoyed letting us know that what we thought was hotshit was
really old news. In 1907, Glenn Curtis did 136.27 on a motorcycle in
Florida.

Hell, 130 mph is fast  _today_. What amazes me are the conditions they
did it under. Skinny wheels, rough roads, no protection - those guys
had balls.

--
Turby the Turbosurfer

 
You ain't just a kidding.  Those things were little more than bicycles
with engines.  The board track racers didn't have any brakes at all,
nor did they have a throttle.  They just had a button that would short
out the ignition when they wanted to slow down.  Talk about an on/off
switch!

One of the dangers of board tracks was splinters.  We're not talking
little slivers here but things the size of pencils.

Bruce

 

I can only imagine the horror...
Imagine getting hit with a pencil that's moving at 130 mph. Yeah,
that'd hurt (if not kill you)!
--
Rayvan

 
Thanks for the link.

There was a board track in Springfield Mass.  Sometime I might try to
find out exactly where it was.

Bruce