Atlantic City Speedway aka Amatol Race Track

[Elmo T]

I guess this would be considered "The Others."

As usual, when searching the internet for one thing, you find something completely unrelated, but interesting nonetheless. The was completely new to me, but perhaps a few of the race history buffs may have heard of this one.

Located in the New Jersey pine barrens, this was a 1.5 mile 50 foot wide banked oval built in 1926. Stands were built to hold 60,000 spectators, with standing room for 250,000. The place was torn down in 1933.

The story of the town of Amatol is pretty interesting as well.

You can read more here:

Amatol Race Track (http://venus.atlantic.edu/amatol/speedway_menu.html)

Here is an aerial photo of the site:

http://venus.atlantic.edu/amatol/images/aerial1.jpg

[cart7]

:cool: Great history on an old board track. :thumbup:

[pchall]

Great stuff. Thanks.

I only knew Amatol as the name of an explosive. Interesting to read more about it.

ps: don't ask me why I know the names of ancient explosives... ;)

[Elmo T]

I only knew Amatol as the name of an explosive. Interesting to read more about it.

Very likely.

The Town of Amatol doesn't exist anymore, but some of the roads are visible in the photos. It was a company town built around an explosives factory. You can read more if you follow the links back on the page.

[RichK]

Thanks for the link. I've read a couple books on board track racing, and there aren't many former track locations where you can still see modern evidence that the track existed.

Next time I'm on the East Coast, it will be cool to explore!

[Mark521]

Great stuff. Shame its not still open, as I live just under 20 miles from it :D .

For those who might want to find it, I believe its approx. 1.75 miles south-east of the intersection of Rt 640 and 561, or at LAT 39.6045982 by LON -74.742118 (center of the oval).

[Steve99]

Great stuff. Shame its not still open, as I live just under 20 miles from it :D .

If we start a rumor that OWRS is thinking about racing there, maybe FTG will swoop in to steal the race and pay for the "upgrades". :rofl:

Sad to think all the work for just a few seasons of racing. I wonder why it went away so fast.

[Madmaxfan2]

The more you explore racing history, you begin to come to the conclusion that there were several periods in the 20trh century in which people thought racing was about ready to explode as a major sport in this country. Yet it doesn't happen when the economy goes through it's boom-recession cycle.
I think we are in another low period, although NASCAR may have grown enough this time to perserve it newfound status as a major sport. Time will tell.

[RichK]

Sad to think all the work for just a few seasons of racing. I wonder why it went away so fast.

It was built late in the board track era. A lot of tracks only operated for a few years.

[RichK]

I think we are in another low period,

I was thinking about this the other day. This is arguably the lowest point in American racing, in my opinion.

[pchall]

It was built late in the board track era. A lot of tracks only operated for a few years.


All the result of CART's scorched earth policy, I suppose? :p