View allAll Photos Tagged backstretch
C64 approaches the appropriately named Racetrack Switch behind The Painesville Speedway. GM entry EMD GP38-2 parallels the backstretch.
And yes, this shot is dedicated to Darrell Waltrip.
Washington Race Course in Charleston, SC (now Hampton Park, next to The Citadel). The track was run by the SC Jockey Club, & operated from 1792-1882. The wealthy planters raced their horses here, often with slave jockeys. The races were one of the highlights of the Charleston social scene; duels were also held here. During the Civil War, Union POWs were kept here, with the officers imprisoned in the ladies clubhouse. Many died & were buried in the infield / near the former clubhouse/grandstand. In 1865, freed slaves built a fence around the graves, adding an arch that read "Martyrs of the Race Course." They held a procession in honor of the dead soldiers which is now known as the first Memorial Day. Mary Murray Drive is a one way road with bike lane that circles the entire park; it is literally built on top of the racetrack footprint. The original track entry posts were given to August Belmont for his new track in NY that opened in 1905, where they are still found at the Belmont Park entrance today. For a link to photos, a map, & more info, see: www.halseymap.com/flash/window.asp?HMID=29
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Backstretch, after 1837 (prior to that, it was the final home stretch).
June 8 2013: Joey Gase, driver of the No. 79 Donate Life Ford, during qualifying for the NASCAR Nationwide Series DuPont 250 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa.
View looking back toward the grandstand and finish line, from the top of the backstretch.
Commodore Downs opened to Thoroughbred racing in 1973, but had financial problems from the very beginning. It closed in 1983, reopening the following year as a harness track. This venture failed 2 years later. In 1986, the track reopened for Thoroughbred racing as Erie Downs. It closed permanently at the end of the 1987 season. The grandstand was demolished in 1999.
The site is now Phase II of the Fairview Business Park in Fairview Township, PA. The paved loop of the business park sits on top of the original 3/4 mile track. The infield, with its original pond, is now the Fairview Flag Park, which is open to the public for walking, hiking, bicyling, and dog walking.
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Not a cloud in the sky that afternoon yet the horsemen were covered head to toe in mud due to a large puddle on the backstretch. Races were briefly delayed while the tractor raked out the problem spot.
Jeff Gordon (24) of Pittsboro, Ind., and Dale Earnhardt (3) of Kannapolis, N.C., spin out of control through the backstretch of the Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, Oct. 12, 1997, in Talladega, Ala. The action occurred after one of Gordon's rear tires went down in a crowd of cars near the lead in the DieHard 500. Some 24 cars were involved in the wreck; both drivers later returned to the race. (AP Photo/Bill Elliott)
A shot of the backstretch after the storm cleared at Fairplex Park in Pomona, California, U.S.A. (Sept. 22, 2007)
Looking back toward the finish line from the backstretch. The building on the left sits where the former grandstand used to be.
Commodore Downs opened to Thoroughbred racing in 1973, but had financial problems from the very beginning. It closed in 1983, reopening the following year as a harness track. This venture failed 2 years later. In 1986, the track reopened for Thoroughbred racing as Erie Downs. It closed permanently at the end of the 1987 season. The grandstand was demolished in 1999.
The site is now Phase II of the Fairview Business Park in Fairview Township, PA. The paved loop of the business park sits on top of the original 3/4 mile track. The infield, with its original pond, is now the Fairview Flag Park, which is open to the public for walking, hiking, bicyling, and dog walking.
Links:
Greenville, SC – Hattori Racing Enterprises driver, Brett Moffitt overcame odds to finish 4th and Sergio Pena experienced engine failure to finish 29th in the Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 at Greenville, SC on Saturday March, 31, 2012.
Both cars were fast in practice. Pena topped the charts for both practices of the afternoon. Moffitt was 2nd quick in the first practice and 14th quick in the second practice though they did not do a mock qualifying run.
“The car was real good in race trim,” explained Grimes, IA native, Brett Moffitt. “We just fine tuned it and worked on our race set up during practice.” “We drew the first qualifying position so we are a little worried about that, but the car is good so we will be fine.”
Pena was real happy after practice as well, “My car is fast. I am real happy with the balance and the forward bite. We have a great shot at the pole and winning the race tonight.”
Moffitt was the first car out to qualify and proved he was a car to beat, earning the provisional pole and being the first car to break into the 20 second bracket with a time of 20.980. However, after only six cars, the rain came and qualifying was subsequently cancelled due to weather.
Hattori Racing is a new team so they did not have owner points from 2011. Therefore Moffitt and Pena were relegated to 21st and 22nd starting positions. They earned their starting spots by race wins in 2011. Both had three series wins, Moffitt finished 3rd in the driver point standings, Pena was 5th.
“I’m excited,” Moffitt said. “We have a good car, I can be patient when needed and I know we can work our way through the field.”
Pena, a Winchester, VA native, wasn’t too worried either, “It is what it is. We are starting better than I thought we would, but we have a great car and will be fine.”
When the green flag dropped, the cars paced themselves and waited for the field to spread out. Unfortunately, Pena was the first caution flag of the night when his #1 JMS Toyota Camry lost a motor early in the race.
“It started losing power down the backstretch,” confirmed Pena. “Then just quit all together. It is so disappointing as I had a fast car all weekend long. We had such a good car and I am proud of my team.”
Moffitt started 21st and was mired in traffic the first part of the race. He cracked the top-10 at lap 64 and began to steadily pass car after car until he raced into 2nd position, where he rode for over 60 laps.
“I was trying really hard to save my tires,” Moffitt stated. “I just rode in second hoping to save enough for the end of the race.”
With a restart at lap 127, Moffitt had his chance. He got his nose underneath leader and eventual race winner, Darrell Wallace, Jr. and led lap 128 but Wallace, Jr. got his nose back under Moffitt and put him in the outside lane where two more cars managed to get underneath. Moffitt finished the race in the 4th position.
My (#11) Kobe Toyopet Camry was real fast,” Moffitt confirmed. “But I ran out of tires at the end. I just used up too much coming through the field. If we had started up front where I know we would have qualified, it might have been a different ending. But from where we started, 4th isn’t too bad.”
“I think we are moving in the right direction,” team owner, Shigeaki Hattori said. “We were the best cars in practice and would have started up front had we qualified. The cars performed well as did the teams.”
Hattori Racing Enterprises next heads to Richmond International Raceway on April 26, 2012 for their next event.
Gilberto Laiz Riding Lady's Kan, Horse Number 10, WINNERS of Race 8, a $10,000 Claiming Fillies and Mares Three Year Olds and Up at Tampa Bay Downs on July 1, 2016. Trained by Robert Smith. Equibase.com says, "Lady's Kan moved two wide to the lead, drew off around the first turn, widened down the backstretch, held a diminishing lead around the far turn, responded in the lane and held clear under a drive."
Gilberto Laiz Riding Lady's Kan, Horse Number 10, WINNERS of Race 8, a $10,000 Claiming Fillies and Mares Three Year Olds and Up at Tampa Bay Downs on July 1, 2016. Trained by Robert Smith. Equibase.com says, "Lady's Kan moved two wide to the lead, drew off around the first turn, widened down the backstretch, held a diminishing lead around the far turn, responded in the lane and held clear under a drive."
Another view of the former track site from across the street. The Kenner Fair Grounds OTB Casino is just east of my position.
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The second Jefferson Downs track was a 3/4 mile oval in Kenner with a 7,500 seat grandstand & stables for 1,150 horses that operated from 1971-1992. It closed due to the poor economy and stiff competition with a casino only a mile away. In 1974, jockey James Sibille was shot to death after winning a race here, amid rumors that he had been warned not to win. John Henry broke his maiden here in 1977. Also in 1977, the lights went out during a night race, causing 5 of 10 horses to collide & lose their riders. The last jockey to win a race here was Corey Lanerie, in 1992.
Today, the pricy Gabriel gated community sits on the site, but there is a lakefront jogging and biking trail that runs behind where the backstretch used to be, that is open to the public.
I found out that later on the day that I posted this photograph that the track was permanently closed by the county board which voted to allow Lifest to build a stage on the backstretch.
Jockey Martin Pedroza rides Best Present Ever stirrupless across the finish line in the Valentine Dancer Stakes after "losing his irons" in the backstretch at Santa Anita Park racetrack in Arcadia, California, U.S.A. (Jan. 26, 2013)
Photo © 2013 Marcie Heacox, all rights reserved. FOR PERSONAL VIEWING OR EDITORIAL PURPOSES ONLY. Contact mheacox87 [at] hotmail.com.
SUFFOLK DOWNS - July 8, 2018 - Race 8
ALLOWANCE OPTIONAL CLAIMING - Thoroughbred
FOR FILLIES AND MARES THREE YEARS OLD AND UPWARD WHICH HAVE NEVER WON A RACE OTHER THAN MAIDEN, CLAIMING, STARTER, STATE BRED, OR RESTRICTED OR WHICH HAVE NEVER WON TWO RACES OR CLAIMING PRICE $25,000. Three Year Olds, 120 lbs.; Older, 124 lbs. Non-winners Of A Race At A Mile Or Over Since June 8 Allowed 3 lbs. Claiming Price $25,000 (NW1 X) Claiming Price: $25,000
About One Mile On The Turf Track Record: (Our Sun - 1:39.28 - May 31, 2010)
Purse: $50,000
Weather:Clear Track:Firm
Off at: 3:52 Start: Good for all
3 - Lover's Key (Monterrey, Jr., Pedro)
8 - Mini Hero (Piermarini, Tammi)
2 - Zenbennie (Reyes, Luis)
Citronnade, ridden by David Flores and trained by Bobby Frankel, leads the way down the backstretch of the featured San Gorgonio Handicap. Citronnade won easily.
From left to right:
Annabelle Rocks (#5)
Dr/Tr: Carl Putnam Jr
Biggie Size (#1)
Dr/Tr: Tim Driver
Howmuchubench (#4)
Dr: Mike Mitchell
Tr: Allen Sisco
Midnight Judge (#2)
Dr/Tr: Evan Coblentz
Benns Wildcat (#3)
Dr/Tr: Don Sherman
June 23, 2013: Sebastien Bourdais, driver of the No. 7 Dragon Racing Chevrolet, Oriol Servia, driver of the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet, and Takuma Sato, driver of the No. 14 ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing Honda, race in turn 1 during the IZOD IndyCar Series Iowa Corn Indy 250 race at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. James Hinchcliffe won the race by 1.509 seconds over Ryan Hunter-Reay.
June 23, 2013: Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda, during the IZOD IndyCar Series Iowa Corn Indy 250 race at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. James Hinchcliffe won the race by 1.509 seconds over Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Here is the Clubhouse Enterence at Mountaineer Park Race Track and Gaming Resort.
The main Casino is on the backstretch!
8/7/2010
If you've been following this page for a while, you might remember that I am an unapologetic life-long fan of the stock car racing put on by the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing, or NASCAR as most people know it. You might also remember from previous drive-bys of NASCAR tracks like Dover or Watkins Glen on non-race weekends that you can't really see all that much of a track from the outside. But you can see more of Darlington than I'd expected. I wish they'd open up some piece of fence so passers-by could go look at the actual track, but we don't live in that kind of world, so this is as close as I could get. I got to see the Sunoco racing fuel sign on the backstretch side, at least. The start-finish line is on the far side of the track, a little to the right.
Here are some facts about Darlington Raceway.
Darlington is an old track, carved out of a peanut field by a guy named Harold Brasington in 1948 and offered up to Bill France to use for his all-new NASCAR racing circuit in 1950 as one of NASCAR's founding tracks. It's a little track, a 1.3-mile oval that's pinched on one end because Brasington promised a neighbor he wouldn't mess with a minnow pond on the property. An average racing lap takes about 30 seconds. It's famously tough to drive -- it's slogan is "Too Tough to Tame" -- but the slower speeds mean drivers can bounce the cars off each other or the wall without necessarily wrecking out. Old-school NASCAR people absolutely love it, but then, it's old, and old-school NASCAR people are deeply nostalgic about anything old.
They run two races here each year. The spring race -- which, as I say, is scheduled for this weekend as I write this -- has for the last decade been known as the "Throwback Race," and race teams celebrate by painting the cars up using old timey paint schemes honoring famous race cars of the past. I thought this was kind of cool when NASCAR first started doing it because it was special, but they've run it into the ground. The TV teams used to bring in the old, retired announcers like Kenny Squire and Ned Jarrett to call the middle portion of the race, but I think Ned Jarrett's 91 years old now, and Kenny Squire died last year, so they just have guys who were announcers, like, five years ago do it.
Devil May Care opened up in the stretch to win the 94th running of the Betfair TVG Coaching Club American Oaks Saturday afternoon at Saratoga Race Course for her third career Grade 1 score.
Well-held on the outside by jockey John Velazquez through early fractions of 24.54 and 48.21, Devil May Care advanced turning for home and drew off to cross the wire four lengths in front of Biofuel. Her final time for the 1 1/8th-mile second jewel of the Betfair TVG Triple Tiara was 1:49.42.
“When I let her go, she was there for me,” said Velazquez. “I wanted to have her covered up for a while because she was pulling pretty strong going through the backstretch. Going to the half-mile pole, I wanted her to get into a good rhythm and then a nice cruising speed. At the quarter-pole I took another hold of her because I didn’t want to get into the lead too quickly. But she was just dragging me up to that point. I kept her busy down the lane to keep her mind on her business.”
It was the second consecutive Grade 1 victory for the daughter of Malibu Moon, who captured the Mother Goose at Belmont Park on June 26, her first start since a 10th-place effort against colts in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on May 1.
“You can see by the way that she won today why we tried the Derby,” said Todd Pletcher, who trains the filly for Glencrest Farm. “The thing that I think gets lost in the shuffle a little bit is how much there is left in the tank. We tried to do the right thing after the Derby and give her plenty of time to the Mother Goose and she rewarded us with a big effort and did the same today. I’ve felt all along that this filly is the best of her generation and if she continues to run like today, I think she’ll prove it.”
Just like NBA games, the only important part of a cat 5 or cat 4 race. :)
Just didn't have it the last time up the hill or on the backstretch the last time - but I can see the top ten or so just in front of me...now I just need to lose that pesky six pounds I picked up over last year...
www.firstsuperspeedway.com/photo-gallery/arthur-greiner
Arthur Greiner was the replacement driver for Joe Horan in the #44 Amplex after the latter broke his leg in practice the week prior to the first Indianapolis 500. Ironically, Greiner was involved in the race's only fatal accident when he lost control of his racer on lap 12 and hit the wood fence lining the backstretch, killing his riding mechanic Sam Dickson.
On the backstretch at Saratoga's Widener Turf Course. The rail can be moved out or in, depending on the wear and tear near the rail. Keep the rail location in mind when evaluating turf races at any race track.
The Widener TC is the inner of two such courses at Saratoga, the outer being the Mellon Turf course.