2 replies to this topic

[Cheater]

One of the lamented board tracks of the '20s was Altoona Speedway, a 1.25 mile wood raceway that opened in 1923 and closed in 1931.



The appeal of the big banked wooden saucers was the incredible speeds race cars of the day could achieve on them. At Altoona's opening race, Labor Day in September 1923, top qualifier was Harry Hartz who turned a lap at 123.2 MPH in a 122 cubic inch single seat Durant-Miller race car. For comparison, the majority of street cars in 1923 couldn't reach 50 MPH.

Film footage of racing on wooden tracks is scarce; there's just not much of it in existence. So when I stumbled on these two substantial clips, I wanted to post them here at Slotblog. Enjoy!

[Bernie]

Very cool, Greg. Thanks for sharing this. Love the historical stuff.

[TSR]

On the picture on top, looks like it is Leon Duray on pole with the black 122 ci supercharged Miller FWD with the white chassis rails, and since those Millers did not exist until then, the picture must be of the start of the June 10, 1927, race where Duray set a new speed record on that track at 136.3 MPH, before the 200-miler.

Next to him would be Pete DePaolo in another FWD Miller.