THE TRACK

Contests of speed were popular many centuries before the automobile existed. The Greeks staged foot races which became the Olympics. The Romans enjoyed chariot races. But you didn’t visit this site to learn the history of horse racing, foot racing, or even submarine racing. If you’re interested, you can visit "Call to the Derby Post," which gives a pretty good overview of horse racing’s long history. For submarine racing, you’re on your own.

In the United States, horse races were often the main attraction at county fairs everywhere, and Orange County was no exception. The Orange County Fair is one of the oldest, longest running fairs in the nation, having begun in 1840. A 1/2-mile track was built for horse racing in 1857. Ray Martin (The Hard Clay in Orange County—Fifty Years of Speed) sums it up beautifully:

"The original track was built in 1857 for horse racing on what was then known as The Ogden Tract, a parcel of land at the southern end of Wisner Avenue. Just what individual or group of men laid out the oval seems to be obscure today. However, the man who rebuilt the track in 1924 was Joe Coates of Goshen, New York, who was quite a famous man and capable of building almost anything—including automobiles. His main occupation at the time was the building of race tracks and he constructed many throughout the east. The Coates automobile was manufactured in Goshen and plays an important part in the history of that village.

    Joe imported the clay to Middletown from his hometown, digging it from what was known as Finan’s Pond, this was special clay. When it hardened, it became something that practically no other clay in these parts could equal. Every time the track needed repairing they went to Finan’s Pond for a load of clay and made the oval smooth again. This practice has long since stopped, of course, but it was the greatest surface known in those days as it became extremely hard and yet soft enough so that it would not injure the hooves of race horses.

The track was laid out as a true half-mile in 1857. But there was a great deal of room between the outside of the track and the grandstand and, as the years unfolded, the track was widened and lengthened on both the inside and the outside. Today it is often referred to as a half-mile track, but this is not true. Because of the alterations it is now a 5/8-mile speedway. "

At the 2003 Eastern States Weekend, I tried to recreate the shot taken in 1933. One of the camera crew was kind enough to give me a lift on the elevated camera platform. It’s not the same angle. People have told me there were buildings and trees off the first turn in the ‘30’s, and that’s where the photographer got his shot.

A satellite view of Orange County Fair Speedway from the late - 90’s. Thankfully, the concert stage was torn down a few years ago