If you stood in the middle of the the very large meadow outside of Laurel, Maryland, you would only think that it had perhaps been a farm field or cow pasture. Or maybe the large earthen berm around parts of it's perimeter indicates there had been a large pond there at sometime in the past.
The meadow, flat and green with spiderwebs across the grass reflecting the morning light, gives no indication that the rural site was once home to tens of thousands of cheering people, racing engines wrung out to their limit, and men risking their lives for fame and money. This was the site of Maryland's old board track, Laurel Speedway.
Laurel Speedway, 1925. National Photo Company Collection, Library of Congress I don't believe there has been any area of motorcycling more crazy, more at-the-limit and beyond, than board track racing. Here's a short clip on YouTube, it's a trailer for the hopes-to-be-made movie "Splinter Road":
You can see in the old black and white photo above, that Laurel Speedway (more correctly known as Baltimore - Washington Speedway) was a massive, 48° banked track, just over a mile in length, and constructed by bolting and nailing together 2x4 lumber and placing it on edge until they'd created the 1920's equivalent of a NASCAR speedway, but from wood. By modern measures, it's mind boggling to create such an edifice out of lumber. And then go race cars and motorcycles on it at speeds over 100 mph? That's nuts.
The men who raced on such tracks were young, brave and maybe a little crazy. The machinery, especially the motorcycles, were rudimentary but absurdly fast for machines fitted with bias ply tires made of weak rubber and cotton cord, powered by finicky, temperamental engines, and with no brakes. Speeds would average easily over 100 mph. It all makes our modern mile dirt track races look slightly sane.
Here's a quick clip of what one of the bikes sounds like. Not the pop-pop-pop antique engine you might imagine:
So, what of of Laurel Speedway today? Like the racers who risked everything for fame and money nearly 85 years ago now, it's gone back to the land. In it's place a business park is to go up. But a look at older images in Google Earth shows that even long after the mighty speedway was demolished, it's giant foot print lingered on the topography of Maryland. Laurel Speedway, 2007
Late in 2009, Dale Neiburg, after reading about Laurel Speedway on the Shorpy.com photo site and realizing the old race track site was not far away from him, slipped through the fence of the old speedway property to see what might be left of the track. Dale was kind enough to send me a CD of the photos he made that day. Those opening photos of the green meadows are his, here are a couple of more.
Laurel Speedway, 2009.
Sadly, not much to be seen there, some large earthen banks hint at the base of the board track grandstands and maybe some of the track, but not much else.
Laurel Speedway location, 2009. I wonder what a metal detector would find?
I find it fascinating that there is anything at all left, but the spectacular and dangerous place still marks the modern landscape long after it was dismantled after barely two years of racing. Motorcycles and racers are like that too. Long after they are gone, a great bike or a great racer can leave and imprint on a the landscape of the imagination. That is why so many custom bike builders today are taking styling cues from the old old board track race bikes. The bravery and the insanity on public display at places like Laurel Speedway have left permanent imprint on the history of motorcycling and are still in the minds of modern riders 100 years later.
For a good overview and photos of what board track racing was wall about, the always excellent Vintagent blog has a nice summary here.