Home
NEWS
HISTORY
MUSEUM
BUYING A H-D
BUYING USED
2010s
2010 IRON
2010 XR1200
WIDE GLIDE
CVO FAT BOB
FAT BOY LO
CONVERTIBLE
ROAD GLIDE
STREET GLIDE
ULTRA LIMITED
2010 TRIKE
PERFORMANCE
EXHAUST
CAMS
DYNO
EFI
COMPRESSION
NITROUS
MAINTENANCE
OIL
TIRES
BATTERY
V-TWIN REBUILD
SIX SPEED
VINs
TOURING
WALLPAPER
WALLPAPER II
LOGO
TATTOOS
WEEKLY VIDS
MODELS
2009  MODELS
CVO MODELS
Iron 883
XR1200
MUSCLE
CROSS BONES
TRIKE
HARLEY STORE
SPONSORS
BOOKS
OCC
HELMET REVIEW
NEW HELMET
INSURANCE
BLOG
LINKS


HARLEY BOARDTRACK RACING


HARLEY-DAVIDSON BOARDTRACK RACING

PHOTO COURTESY OF HARLEY-DAVIDSON MOTOR COMPANY ARCHIVES


The most dangerous racing of all?

It is not certain the exact date and place that the sport began, but boardtracks were being built by 1908 and the racing class quickly gained great popularity. The tracks were either oval or circular shaped with extremely steep banked curves. The surfaces of the tracks were composed of two-by-four inch wooden planks (laid on edge) or two-by-two inch wooden planks nailed to wooden frames. The lumber was almost always of a rough cut to allow a better grip of the tires on the motorcycles. Most tracks are credited as having been designed by a track manager and engineer named Jack Prince.

Official Harley-Davidson factory racers such as Otto Walker and Leslie "Red" Parkhurst were taking on the tracks at Sheepshead Bay, N.Y., Playa Del Ray, Calif., and points in between, including Milwaukee, Wis. They competed against racers riding the likes of Indians, Reading Standards, Thors and Merkels, to name a few. But what people remember most about
the motordromes was the immense danger they posed to rider and spectator alike.

The steep banks of the tracks allowed for incredibly high speeds in excess of 120 miles per hour. Worse yet, it was also not unheard of for planks to break loose, or for large splinters to form. Woe to the rider who went down and slid into one of those splinters. And if that didn't add enough suspense, oil from the motorcycles often made the tracks slick.

An infamous race in Newark, N.J., in 1912 took the lives of four spectators and four racers. Other races saw bloodshed as well, and while the sport remained popular with crowds, it lost popularity with the media and local governments. The periodicals began to call the tracks "murderdromes," and by the early 1920s, board-track racing had been gradually outlawed by local and state governments across the nation.
by Bill Jackson, Senior Archivist



Return To Harley History

Return From Harley Board Racing To Harley Riders Guide


footer for harley board racing page