CN
III ARCHIVES
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
T
he board track era had been
over for nearly a decade but in
the mid-1920s racing of a bygone
era made one last brief comeback
when the AMA held national races
on the massive mile-and-a-quarter
board track near Altoona, Penn-
sylvania.
Motorcycle racing in America
during the early 1900s was
primarily confined to city-to-city
runs and races on bicycle velo-
dromes. But as engines became
more powerful, it was clear that
the small bicycle tracks were not
large enough to showcase the
capabilities of motorcycles.
In 1910, the Los Angeles Motor-
drome, built in the resort of Playa
Del Ray, was the first large board
track built in America. Motorcycle
P134
in today's dollars.
By the end of the 1910s, the
board track era was mostly a thing
of the past. Besides the dangers
of racing the boards, the tracks
rapidly deteriorated and many
burned down. A thrilling, but
deadly chapter in American motor-
sports mostly came to a close.
But then a group of investors,
which called itself the Altoona
Speedway Association, headed
by a gentleman named George
Long, wanted to build a racetrack
that might rival Indianapolis, and
they decided to make it out of
wood. A site was chosen north of
Altoona, in Tipton, because there
was already a major highway,
train and trolley stops there for
a neighboring large amusement
park. Over $300,000 needed
to be raised to build the gigantic
banked board track and the three
primary business investors—Long,
Robert Fluke and W.A. Morgan—
took out loans from banks and
also sold stocks to investors. In
1921 construction on the Altoona
Board Track began.
racing on the boards drew huge
crowds, and the push was on to
make more across the country.
While popular, board track
racing became the deadliest form
of racing in the history of motor-
sports. Hundreds of lives were
lost, both racers and spectators,
during the relatively short-lived
era of the boards. Yet in spite of,
or perhaps partly because of the
dangers, board track racing in the
1910s was one of the most popu-
lar spectator sports in America.
Races attracted crowds of up to
10,000. Young riders knew of
the dangers but chose to ignore
them because the payoffs were so
lucrative. A top rider could make
$20,000 per year racing the
board tracks, nearly a half-million
LAST OF
THE BOARDS
A postcard featuring
the Altoona Board
Track with a big crowd
in attendance.
