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A 'race track' (or 'racetrack' or 'racing track') is a purpose-built facility for racing. This racing can be of animals (eg. horse racing or greyhound racing), automobiles, motorcycles or athletes. A race track may also feature grandstands or concourses. The term 'racecourse' is also used for horse-racing facilities. Race tracks built for bicycles are known as velodromes.
Horse and dog racing facilities tend to use circular or oval tracks, whereas most automotive and motorcycle racing is performed on meandering courses, which are sometimes called 'road circuits' (this originates in the fact that the earliest road racing circuits were simply closed-off public roads). A notable exception is most forms of automotive racing in the USA (such as NASCAR) that primarily use oval tracks (known as "speedways").

Contents

History

Vehicle racetracks

See also

External links

History

There is some evidence of racetracks being developed in several ancient civilizations, but the most impressive ancient racetracks were certainly the hippodrome of the Ancient Greeks and the circus of the Roman Empire. Both of these structures were designed for horse and chariot racing. The stadium of the Circus Maximus in Rome, Italy, is an example that could hold 200,000 spectators.
Racing facilities existed during the Middle Ages and there are records of a public racecourse being opened at Newmarket in London in 1174. In 1780 the Earl of Derby created a horse-racing course on his estate at Epsom; the English Derby continues to be held there today.
Horse racing in the United States and on the North American continent dates back to the establishment of another course named Newmarket -- on the Salisbury Plains section of what is now known as the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York in 1665. This first racing meet in North America was supervised by New York's colonial Governor, Richard Nicolls. The area is now occupied by the present Nassau County, New York region of Greater Westbury and East Garden City. The South Westbury section is also (appropriately) known as Salisbury.
Major horse racetracks in the US were built at Saratoga Springs, New York in 1863 and at Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky., opened in 1875. 1905 saw the opening of Belmont Park in Elmont, New York (just outside New York City - on part of the western edge of the Hempstead Plains. Its mile and a half main track is the largest dirt thoroughbred race course in the world, and it has the sport's largest grandstand.

Vehicle racetracks

With the advent of the automobile in the early 20th century, a new style of racetrack came into existence, one designed to suit the nature of powered machines. The earliest tracks were modified horse racing courses, and racing automobiles in these facilities began in September, 1896, at Narragansett Park in Cranston, RI. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was opened in August of 1909.
During the 1920s, many of the races on the AAA Championship occurred on high banked wooden race tracks called board tracks.

See also

★ Auto racing

★ List of auto racing tracks (UK: motor racing tracks)

★ List of horse racing venues

External links

★ Racetrack Database Racetrack information and locations.


★ Trackpedia's guide to world automobile race tracks

★ Motor Racing Circuits Database

★ Race and PaddockbBomb Discussion