History Bring Out Yer Board Track Pics!

You are right, the car was owned by the late Bob Sotherland at that time, and he owned a lunber company in Colorado. Nice guy that checked out way too soon.

 

And I thought wooden roller coasters used a lot of wood. I heard that when some of the tracks were torn down the wood was recycled into housing

 

Great thread. You know, I grew up in Laurel, MD, although I wasn't born until 50 years after those photos were taken.

I wonder if the track was out by where the Horse racing track is (or was 15 years ago when I last lived there)?

 

Just checked my 1925 program, and it said it was near the Baltimore & Ohio railroad and Washington Boulevard. Took 7 weeks to build it using 5 million feet of southern yellow pine, turns had a 48 degree banking!

 

This is a wonderful thread. Thanks to all who are posting.

 

As beautiful as these old racers were/are ... I can't help thinkin' how gutsy it was for guy to get in one and race it ... even more so than race cars today. Talk about a dangerous enterprise. Nevertheless, I'd drive one one of these babies on one of those board tracks in a heartbeat ... what a thrill .

 

Ralph DePalma said years later that he hated the boards, saying any idiot could find a line and boot it, essentially. He made it sound a bit like a restrictor plate race!

 

Anyone interested in the Board Track Era should check out this site.

http://www.king-of-the-boards.com/

I have all of the books pertaining to the boards Miller Dynasty King of the Boards Ralph Dec Palma The Wallen Book,etc.


Another must see is this.

I wrote the Books and Publications list for this site.

http://www.milleroffy.com/

 

hahahahahaahahaha

 

Miller 91 I have heard this before but then I have heard many things before about DePalma. Although we could argue the merits of cars racing on a steeply bank bowl and the lack of whatever anyone wants to throw out in the way of criticism, but I for one would have liked to witness it. Restrictor plate racing is not all that exciting to me as it is hard to pass etc and the board track racers would get wound up and in a rythym for sure but the noise and the smell of castor oil and speed would have been a hoot in my opinion.

Road racing would be interesting but DePalma averaged 110+mph laps in the car in my avatar at Sheepshead Bay board track and Peter DePaolo his nephew said that it was the loudest car on the track. I have an article wherein DePalma said it was his favorite car (which I don't know if said that about all of his cars-who knows for sure). Funny though that he would say that about a car that he raced on tracks and venues he hated.

NOt saying he didn't say it but after spending many years gathering info on him I would like to find the interview wherein he said this as opposed to something that may have been told by one of the many fanciful and ridiculous storytellers disguised as authors that have written on the era.

I appreciate your posts by the way- obviously you have an interest in the era. Keep it up-Jim

 

<TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 width=402 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>&#8220;I&#8217;d Do It All Over
Again . . .&#8221; Ralph De Palma

A handful of Highlights On Auto RacingPast, Present and Future By One WhoSpent 26 Years Behind The Wheel</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=8 width=291 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="50%">By Frank G. Hetishee MOTOR AGE Magazine
January, 1937

Mocking death for a living, and experiencing more thrills in an hour than the average individual has in a lifetime; such has been the life of Ralph De Palma, the grand old man of a thousand speed wars, who today, at 54, is as popular a driver as ever put a gloved hand to a steering wheel. Twenty-six years of strenuous competition, figuring in only three bad accidents, just one of which was a near fatality, find this naturalized Italian hale and hearty both in mind and body.

From 1907 through 1933, De Palma campaigned the road races both here and abroad, as well as the rough bricks at Indianapolis, the timber saucers, and the dirt tracks. Today as he sits in his office at Lafayette, Ind., where he is a car dealer, the silver fox will tell you, &#8220;I&#8217;d do it all over again if it were possible; however, not all the boys were as fortunate to come through the game like I have.

&#8220;Yes, a lot of the old timers have left us. When the first 500-mile race was staged at Indianapolis, back in 1911, David Bruce Brown, Spencer Wishart, Bob Burman, Teddy Tetzlaff, and Howdy Wilcox were the high lights of the day, but that old man with the scythe waved the checkered flag on them. Unless you young fellows review your racing history those names won&#8217;t mean much to you, but take it from me those boys were as good as they come.

&#8220;I never figured in any spills where I got a crack over the head. Only in the last few years have crash helmets come into vogue, and we didn&#8217;t use to have those steel football headgears. You know, there are a few of the old timers that haven&#8217;t all their marbles together, and to me that is the most pathetic aspect of our racing game.&#8221;

Ralph De Palma believes that drivers in general do not take their business as seriously today as formerly. The reason for this is partly because the various factories used to finance a team of cars which campaigned the major races during the season, and drivers were required to train and take their racing seriously. According to Ralph, there are only a half a dozen drivers today who conscientiously make their racing activites a business enterprise.

The veteran wheel twister still believes there is money to be made in racing providing a young man can finance his own car, but splitting prize money two or three ways with a car owner is not a paying proposition. However, the ever-smiling Ralph will tell his youthful confidants that auto racing is not a path of roses but a game of give-and-take, and always there is only one driver who can win any race even though every starter feels he is a sure fire winner.

De Palma ranks as one of the top flight race drivers of all time, and his Indianapolis achievements have still to be equalled, as he has traveled 4161 miles over the rough bricks. Louis Meyer, next in line, has 3885 miles to his credit, and Tony Gulotta has 3630 miles of driving on the Hoosier speedway. Both Meyer and Gulotta have a chance to surpass De Palma&#8217;s record.

De Palma&#8217;s triumphs on the early day road racing circuits, such as the Vanderbilt Cup, the Savannah road race, the Santa Monica and the Elgin National, make him one of the masters of those thrilling hectic days prior to the World War. On the Continent, America&#8217;s good-will racing ambassador is still remembered for his spectacular driving, and although he never won a Grand Prix he proved himself worthy as the New World&#8217;s Speed King.

Likewise, intrepid Ralph was equally at home broadsliding on the dirt tracks at the various fairs and expositions throughout the land. During the early twenties, when the short lived board speedways were at their height, De Palma could always be found out front early in the melee setting his habitual blistering pace. Ralph recently said that he never enjoyed driving on those wooden bowls, as it required no real skill. All that was necessary was a heavy right foot to open up and to hold her on that methodical groove. In fact, it struck him a bit boresome to negotiate those lightning fast boards, when anybody with a lead foot could sit in a cock pit and hold her down to 130 m.p.h. for a couple of hundred miles.

In spite of De Palma&#8217;s enviable records, it is at Indianapolis that amiable Ralph will also be remembered for his gallantry in defeat. Back in 1912, De Palma immediately took command of the lead when the pacemaker set the field off to a flying start for the second 500-mile sweepstakes. For 198 laps he led the pack, breaking every existing speedway record up to 450 miles, when he settled down with a comfortable eight-lap lead. With victory in his grasp, his Mercedes broke a piston and went dead on the back stretch, and the tantalizing fortune vanished in thin air.

Lady Luck was with Hard-luck Ralph in 1915, in spite of a connecting rod that went through the crankcase of his Mercedes with two laps to go. Had Darior Resta realized De Palma&#8217;s plight, the results might have been different; but, broken down, unnerved and outdriven by the spectacular De Palma throughout the race, Resta was content to glide in for second money. De Palma won and his record of 89.84 m.p.h. stood unbroken for seven years.

The 1919 &#8220;500&#8221; dound Ralph setting the pace in his big Packard for the first half of the race, but after a lengthy pit delay the idol of the day fell back to tenth place. What was De Palma&#8217;s loss was Howdy Wilcox&#8217;s gain, for Wilcox snatched the race after trailing the leaders, and the best Ralph could annex was sixth. Fire played havoc with De Palma&#8217;s car in the 1920 race, when flames enveloped his Ballot within the last 30 miles of a well-deserved victory. Such was DePalma&#8217;s luck, but a lack of alibis was Ralph&#8217;s outstanding characteristic.

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Ralph De Palma, Packard dealer, Lafayette, Ind., 1937

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jimdillon, that article was on the excellent website www.rumbledrome.com. Cheers!

 

Thanks Miller 91, I have read that article before and although he may not have enjoyed them and found them a bit boring, I am not sure he hated them and that he said any idiot could negotiate the boards. Bowled speedways I believe to be a bit boring as you can just put it in the groove and get it in a rhythm, as long as you are out front. I also find ovals to get a bit tedious after awhile to watch. I still like the circus that goes along with those boring races though. Throw in the circus and some great noise and great smells and bright colored race cars and that makes for a pretty good time in my estimation.

If they were so easy and with his Miller how come he didn't win any more than he did in the twenties? It takes the best equipment and it takes a big set to drive the boards with all of the oil and sand to absorb the oil and all of the guys vying for position. The fastest car didn't always win.

I know what he is saying though in this article as I can imagine there were probably times that it was boring not only from the fans vantage point but also from the drivers that were in essence the field fillers. Sadly during the twenties he was on the downside of his excellent career and he was not the big headliner he was in the teens, setting all of his "big" records.

Best book on DePalma in my opinion is Gary Doyle's book Gentleman Champion. He was pretty good on dirt, the boards and the brickyard. As racers go he was a pretty talented and well rounded driver. Some of those car were a handful to drive and he apparently felt pretty comfortable behind the wheel. I have nothing but admiration for the guy and when I go upstairs I will look him up-I hope-Jim

 

In my opinion Ralph De Palma was a dirt track racer at heart. He also had sucess At Indy,which was in reality closer to a dirt track than it was to the high banked boards.
Even the road racing that Ralph did,(Elgin,etc,Vanderbilt cup racing) was on the dirt.
Ralph started racing around 1908 or so. By the 1920s he had survived years and years of danger on the tracks.


My bet is he would have picked the dirt to race on if he had to choose. Probably next the bricks and lastly-the boards.

 

Awesome thread!

 

Buildy I have never tried to pigeon hole DePalma as one particular type of racer but have always thought he was pretty versatile. He raced on dirt early on because that is pretty much what was available, there were not any paved road courses. He probably enjoyed the ability to sling the car through the turns which I can only imagine was quite a thrill. He had a pretty respectable record on the dirt as well. As to Indy it may not be a banked oval but it was not at all similar to anything on dirt. As an oval it was often a grind on the equipment as well as on their hands and bodies as it was quite rough. Until Al Sr came along DePalma led more laps at Indy that any other driver although he only had the one win. On the boards he did pretty well and set many track and world's records mainly due to the high speeds. Look at the records that Oldfield set on dirt in St Louis with the Sub which were slow in comparison to the records shortly after on the boards. The thing that I believe that made the boards popular with the fans etc were the extreme high speeds and DePalma showed he could do it all. Truth be told the boards were just a huge wind up toy for getting as much speed out of a racecar but I still would like to go back and witness it. In addition he set the land speed record at Daytona in 1919.

For a guy that set a land speed record, led more laps at Indy and set probably over twenty respectable records on the boards as well as a smattering of dirt track and early road racing records I would personally clasify him as the most versatile American driver of the early 20th century. Somewhere I have a copy of Speed Age from the fifties where they asked the guys at Indy (Owners, crew, drivers etc) and they voted him #1.

Although he had success on the dirt I believe his greatest triumphs were on surfaces other than dirt per se. Who knows he may have liked dirt best and who am I to disagree too vehemently as I cannot read his mind. If you gave him a racecar he would drive it pretty well on any surface and I believe he felt most at home when he had the spotlight on himself.-Jim

 

"I would personally clasify him as the most versatile American driver of the early 20th century."

I agree. I was speaking to his probable preferences,not his capabilities,which were much more than adequate on all racing surfaces.
Versatile is a word that fits Ralph De Palma to a T.


I probably didn`t word my comparison of the bricks and the dirt very well late last night. I meant that the physical demands and pounding a driver takes was similar on the dirt track long distance events and racing on the Indy bricks.
The Boards were just very different than the other two as far as I`m concerned.

This thread was supposed to be board track photos,so I guess I did kind of wander a bit.

I am personally fascinated by the Board tracks and the Era,whether they were Ralph De Palma`s favorite type of tracks or not.

 

I wonder whats that greasespot in the wallpaper is coming from

 

It is true that wood from the Board tracks did make their way into home and building construction. The Maywood area of Chicago still has buildings with wood from the track there.

Keep in mind there was there was a lot more wood than just the track surface,the framework,fences,pit areas and even the grandstands were all made of wood.

 

Packard 299 Racer around 1919-Sheepshead Bay?

 

Buildy,
You're absolutely right both times.
Yes, you could probably still find remnants from the boardtracks spread across the state.
And yes, Ralph De Palma is the most versatile American driver of his era although if Frank Lockhart had survived the crash in the Stutz Blackhawk at Daytona Beach i think we'd all be in agreement that he was the greatest.

 

Ralph De Palma and nephew and 1925 Indy winner Peter De Paolo at Beverly Hills.

Pete was still a riding mechanic in this photo from 1921.

 

Frank Lockhart was in a league of his own as far as I`m concerned!

 

Buildy this picture is actually taken in 1916 at Sheepshead while it was still in primer, my guess it was either April or May of 1916. They painted it Packard creme with blue accents in 1917 and ran it with this body up until early 1919 when they rebodied the car for Indy. The 1919 body is lower and has a different hood, although at Indy they ran it without the hood.

 

Thanks Jim,

Do you know who is behind the wheel in the photo?


Is this the 1919 Version?

 

I read somewhere that they had carpenter crews under the tracks that were there to fix loose or broken/missing boards DURING the races.

That just seems nuts to me... And yet, strangely AMERICAN.

 

Thank you for the new desktop picture on my PC!

 

"I read somewhere that they had carpenter crews under the tracks that were there to fix loose or broken/missing boards DURING the races."


That is true. The board tracks were quick to deteriorate. In later years some of the tracks were in horrible condition.

It is said by IIRC Wilbur Shaw,that he was racing on the boards,and kids sneaked in and under the track and as he was coming down the track suddenly the heads of some of the kids popped up out of one of the holes in the track,scaring the daylights out of him.
Also drivers were pelted with match stick sized splinters that sometimes were driven into their faces.
In accidents parts of the tracks caught fire. At least one track, Playa Del Rey in California burned to the ground. Not during a race though.

 

What's interesting is that Fresno was not only a hotbed of historic auto racing activities (including the Indy Vukovich saga), it was an absolute show place in the 20's, see any Pop Laval photography book for proof. Local politicians in bed with shady developers absolutely raped that city with urban renewal "improvements" beginning with demolition of the 1875 County Courthouse in 1966. I know, as a boy I stood next to my mother in Courthouse Park the night they knocked the building down, and she wept. Fresno is an example of a place that got off to a great start and blew it.

 

I suppose a little Miller "porn" wouldn't hurt right now...

and I want to thank you HAMBers, this thread has been fun!