Race tracks that are gone
 

I love reading history but especially personal histories... little fragments and random recollections, sidebars and anecdotes...

So I was wondering if some of you could talk about the tracks that no longer exist. I don't mean so much their location and things I can google... I mean how did you get there and what did you pass on your way? How did people dress and where did you sit?

What options were there in terms of eating and drinking and what did you usually bring with you?

Who did you go with and how did you celebrate if you did well?

How often did you go and when did the track close?

Was the closing of the track dragged out like HP? How do you feel when you pass by whatever is there now?

If you were taken as a kid do you have a favorite memory?

Are you somehow related to Smarty Cide? :D

I still drive by old Longacres whenever I go home and miss it terribly. My whole childhood was spent there. The beautiful tall poplar trees that lined the turns are still there on one side.

Boeing bought it and literally left the land barren and used only a tiny area by the 3/8ths pole and built a building.

If you go there and walk around, under some bushes you'll notice a part of the rail is still there as well as some of the brick flooring.

The last day was a night event and it was very sad. They let everyone out onto the track afterwards to go grab souvenir dirt. The last race, Gary Henson the announcer let run silent, only saying at the 7/8ths pole. "Ladies and Gentlemen, these horses belong to you. Listen to their final thunder"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_TpIkZ9C4M

Agree - I traveled for work to the area and always managed to sneak in a few races. Was very sorry to see it close.

1989. Chicago. South Loop. Working at Coopers & Lybrand right out of Notre Dame.

The OTB on Jackson Street had three levels. First level was for the action-addicted traders who worked in the nearby commodity pits. Designed for quick hitter, one race bets while they ducked out for a smoke.

Second floor was for the hardcore grinders. A weathered looking group that was not looking for new friends.

The third floor was what I miss. The Derby Club. Had to have a suit coat to get in and pay $99 for membership. But once in, you might sit down at the oak bar with a local celeb (Gene Siskel was the best). Big leather booths and TVs.

Heady stuff for a 22yo kid. Not sure when it closed down, but I miss its "rat packy" vibe. Fell on love with the sport during the a Sunday Silence-Easy Goer season.

Cheers,

Otis

Thank you, gentlemen, for your fine answers. This is what I was looking for.

It's all a ploy to get you to talk to me. :p

My first trip to Aksarben in Omaha, must have been 1972. Took a funeral home limo with 8 or 10 other guys, and we had a lock in the second race. Forgot the dress code so we went to Goodwill for sport coats and khakis. Wheeled the first race over the lock in the second and the DD paid $81. Drank so much beer while there we had to stop and piss on a gravel road in the middle of nowhere coming home.
I think Aksarben closed in the 90's.

The first time I went to Colonial I was driven there by a friend who is the worst driver imaginable. We're talking barreling into an exit and breaking hard half way around the turn with the wheels screeching kind of bad. Anyway...traffic was horrible as usual and we sat on 64 for like an hour (Some much needed rest for my racing heart!). It never made any sense to me that this was a 2 lane highway shortly after 95 merges onto it and everyone during that time of the year was headed towards the beach. Stop and go. Stop and go.

Anyway, this was the year that Colonial really came onto the scene with their 3 yo turf series and it was looking to be a huge hit. The track had a nice attendance, they had beer tents and other entertainment going on and all of the dining rooms and bars were well stocked. For the next four years you saw a significant decline of that service and entertainment. One bartender at the busiest bar, etc. The quality of the food in the dinning rooms declined from that first year as well, but it was worth the seats because you could go out on the outdoor patios to watch the races. It was always either pouring rain (See: win photo of Sailor's Cap) or 90 degrees and crazy humid so it was nice having an indoor and outdoor option, even though I generally prefer to be outdoors and as close to the paddock and rail as possible. Most of the people dressed up for the Colonial Turf Cup and VA Derby. Even though there was always a horse or two from the KY Derby, people didn't seem to get as excited about that as they do other tracks. Overall, it didn't really have that vibe of a track that is excited about racing, like Saratoga or New Orleans.

The last time I went to CNL was just before I got hurt for the Colonial Turf Cup. Changing the complexion of those races really took the excitement out of them. It was nice that it was later in the evening; however. I dressed casual, got a glass of wine and watched along the rail. Attendance was very minimal. There was no traffic. Just a couple of attendees and horses who deserved a better audience and venue.

That was awesome, Sighty! Thanks for the story and you too, Minn Skinny (and whoa a bonus for Cardus-ie what with the funeral limo line. :D Are we talking a hearse or what?).

Well done, you two!

Parr Meadows (1977) and Suffolk Meadows (1986)
 

Quarterhorse racing came to Long Island (Yaphank, Exit 68 off the Long Island Expressway) on the 5/8ths mile oval at Parr Meadows in 1977. Opening night (May 19th) had more than 15,000 attempting to stream into the new track with a million glitches as reported by the media. My first night attending was May 20th - a nine race program when the quarterhorses only ran 350, 400, or 440 yards on the straight away and 660, 770, or 870 yards around the hook.

The facility was adorned with a green and blue interior with a grandstand sized for thousands (devoid of seats that never arrived for that 1977 season) and a dining room that opened two months after the start of the meeting. The programs were blue pocket programs on one day and green pocket programs the next requiring you to purchase the DRF in order to have the past performances. Roughly half way through the 1977 meeting, DRF coverage was cut back and a "Doc Robins" style program was produced. I still own roughly 50+ programs from that one season meeting. My recollection was that Dick Longtin was the announcer for the season.

Just below the grandstand level was the Autotote computer room where you could watch all of the tote room action live through glass windows, a fascinating look "inside" the business of the racetrack. The big horse of the meeting was Laderago who had shipped into the meeting from Los Alamitos for some of the local stakes action. Without having the programs in front of me, I can still recall some of the jockeys : Pete Herrera, Ron Lyda, Ellen Cockey and so many more.

Purchased from bankruptcy, Parr Meadows was reopened as Suffolk Meadows in 1986, again in May. I was so excited to see the reopening that I went to the facility for the trial races that were run two weeks before the meet officially opened. There, I met Theresa Bonnadonna who along with her father, Otto, were the meet operators. The attendance and horse population never reached the same numbers as the original meeting. However, it was special to be able to go back and "touch" all of the familiar points from the decade earlier.

The grandstand was torn down during the 2000s and all that remains now is a large paved area (the former parking lot) and the aerial Google view of the area where you can still make out the shape of the oval and chutes.

An amazing read... thank you!

That last line though... must be like seeing a ghost.

Loved reading the details. Great stuff.

In the late 80's early 90's I worked across Woodbine Racetrack at a restaurant called JJ Muggs. Lots of people from the track drank and ate there, they were
known as "trackies" One guy I worked with was well versed in handicapping and after lunch we would walk across and try and make them into bigger tips.
He could answer any question I could throw at him and taught me how to read the DRF and how to handicap a race. He was surprised at how many horses I knew about because I use to love watching Wide World of sports and their coverage of horse racing. One night he says I got a horse that "can't lose" it is running at Greenwood. Where is Greenwood I ask. It is right on Lake Ontario just east of downtown and it was the original "Woodbine". A much smaller track
7/8's and now they just ran when Woodbine shut its doors for the winter. Having now been at Woodbine numerous times, I had an idea of what it would be like - how wrong could I be. I remember seeing a giant tree in the infield
but there were no leaves. It was a lot smaller than Woodbine and there seemed to be way more people and lots of drunk people too. And the smoke! You could have cut it with a chain-saw and I smoked myself. No one really sat unless you went outside. So my friend is still talking about this sprinter Senator L, that can't lose. He was ml fav at 6-5 so I understood that he was good, I think he ended up finishing 3rd at 1-2. Buddy, says how much did you lose? Everything I said. What do you mean - everything? I said everything, my paycheck, you said he wouldn't lose. WHAT, you bet your paycheck? I didn't tell you to be your paycheck, I can't pay that back, you don't bet your check on a 1-2 shot. So that was my introduction to Greenwood racetrack, downtown and right on the lake. My favorite track.
More "real" people there than anyplace in the world. It closed a few years later and became a housing development. They kept a large otb there but that too is now shrinking.

I remember going to Hollywood Park back in 1977 when Seattle Slew came out after winning the Triple Crown. The place was packed and while it wasn't Seattle Slew's day, however it was J.O. Tobin's day with Shoemaker up. As the horses were coming down the stretch the crowd was going nuts and yelling Shoe Shoe Shoe the whole stretch drive. It was electrifying. Days like that along with the First Breeders Cup and watching Niatross destroying his fields in world record times at the night harness racing they had there were a few of the special memories I have.

I think you are a man of many talents but public urination expert was never one I considered.

Senator L... that was a fantastic story! So glad you posted and thanks, Aly-Sheba, for your special HP memory.

I get a little misty eyed when I drive by the Home Depot on Westshore Drive as I recall $0.25 beer nights at the Tampa Jai Alai Fronton.

I'm sure the players HATED those nights as the heckling was fueled by whatever flat, warm swill was being poured into the Solo cups.

My old man had a modest string of cheap standardbreds in New England back in the late 60s early 70s, usually at Rockingham Park. He was no stranger to the windows too, both for the trotters and the TBs.

We lived just over the border in Massachusetts, and oftentimes as a young one he'd take me along for the 5(?) mile ride north along Route 28. If I was lucky, we'd stop at Granite State potato chip factory and get a bucket of chips right outta the vat. If it was summer time we'd detour to one of the truck farms near the track and pick up a couple dozen ears of sweet corn for dinner. And if I was really lucky we'd go in the barn gate right off route 28 (and not the gen'l admission gate...that meant he was just getting a bet in) because that meant we were going to his barn and I could be with his horses. The mere smell of molasses is enough to bring it all back to me.

A few times he'd hoist me up on his lap in the jog cart and take a few lazy loops around the oval with one of his horses and man...that was better than anything to a 6 or 7 year old kid. Dad was better than Carl Yasztremski at that point. Well...up until the one time one of my feet slipped and got jammed in the wheel and tore the skin off my ankle. Didn't want to be dad explaining to mom that night.

Roosevelt Raceway though for reasons besides the racing. Oct 1982 I was a soph in high school. The brother of my girlfriend at the time scored 2 tickets to see The Who at Shea Stadium, their original farewell tour. :)

A few problems: 1. The show was a mid week school night. 2. Long drive from the Albany area on a school nite and 3. I was on crutches recovering from knee surgery.

Since The Who was/is one of my favorite bands and this seemed like a once in a life opportunity (note, I have seen them at least a half dozen times since), we worked out a deal with my dad. He would drive us down and back same day/nite but I had to agree to go to school the next day. Ah, Deal

How does Roosevelt work into this story? Well, while we were at the show, my dad and one of my HS teachers who joined us on the trip, headed over to Roosevelt. Had Roosevelt not been running live that nite I probably would have missed out on seeing a great show.

Thanks dad!!! :tro: