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| What is to be the most comprehensive, as well as by far the largest, public arena for outdoor sports in the world is being constructed on the site which saw many a gala meeting of “the sport of kings” before horse racing was frowned upon in this state, the Sheepshead Bay race track property, which has recently been sold by the Coney Island Jockey Club. The Sheepshead Bay Speedway Corporation, which has taken over the four hundred-odd acres of turf and meadow which composes this unique property within thegreater city, has begun construction on the most extensive sporting ground that has ever been planned. In the long list of sporting activities which are to take place where the brilliant colors of the jockey caps flashed under the wire in other days are included automobile track racing, football, baseball, track meets, polo tournaments, tennis and aviation. The facilities for sports will be almost unlimited and crowds many times larger than at any other arena will be able to be accommodated. The ultimate seating capacity of the steel and concrete grand stand will be 175,000. When it is remembered that the huge Yale bowl at New Haven has a seating capacity of 61,000, some idea of the magnitude of the new undertaking can be gained. The primary idea behind this new speedway is to give New York an opportunity to see automobile racing of high quality within an inclosure. Some of the motor road classics, such as the Vanderbilt Cup races, have been held on Long Island in the past, but it has never proved possible to police these contests in a satisfactory manner, and, although the project has been agitated a number of times, a track has never been provided in this vicinity until now where really fast automobile contests could be held. The result has been that the only long track race for motor cars held in this country each year has been the 500-mile international event at the Indianapolis Speedway. It is expected that the track at Sheepshead Bay will prove to be for the United States what the famous Brooklands track is for England, only more so. Present plans call for two chief long-distance races, probably at 500 miles each, to be held each Spring and Fall and to be open to contestants from all countries. The first of these races will be held during the first week of October this year. When the operation of the track is in full swing there will also be matinees, match races, and other automobile contests eash week during the season. It is expected that the more progressive automobile manufacturers will co-operate strongly with the management of the new speedway because of its value to them as a testing ground or great outdoor laboratory for the perfecting of motor types. The history of the Brooklands track in England has made it abundantly apparent that a scientifically designed speedway, where very high speeds are obtainable, can have an important influence on motor car design. The testing which the cars receive in contests under these conditions leads to constant engineering modifications with the bringing out of refined and improved types each year. Indeed, the development of the long stroke, small bore, high speed automobile motor may be said to be due in great measure to Brooklands. The developments of the current season in this country with the bringing out of eight-cylinder motors and revolutionary types oftransmission have made it plain that a dead level has not yet been reached in automobile engineering, and those who are back of the enterprise at Sheepshead Bay feel that the speedway they are building will play a big part in the forward movement of the American automobile industry. Some of the varied plans which are in contemplation for the use of the new grounds were explained last week to a representative of The Times by Everard Thompson, who is manager of the enterprise and in full charge of all arrangements. Mr. Thompson, who has been the active factor in the management of Yale athletics for a number of years and had much to do with the construction of the new Yale bowl, has reigned his active connection with Yale in order to take charge of the Sheepshead Bay Speedway. He was captured the other day at the Claridge in one of the few peaceful eddies which he has in the tide of job seekers in connection with the new undertaking, As he puts it, everybody in New York, or, at any rate, everybody in Brooklyn, seems to want a job, and he is besieged. “The plan for this arena for outdoor sports,” he began, “is on the largest scale that ever has been attempted. There are so many angles to it that one hardly knows where to begin. Of course, it is primarily a motor speedway, and motor races will be the great feature. We hope, in fact, to make it a Brooklands and Hendon in one and on an extended scale. Hendon, you know, is the great English aviation ground, and aviation is to play a big part at Sheepshead Bay. But I will tell you more about that later. “As the basic reason for the undertaking, perhaps the automobile end should be discussed first. We have settled on the design of the track, which can be best described as two straightaways of a half mile each, and two turns of a half mile each, although those distances are not exact, for some 750 feet of eachstraightaway is taken up by what is called an easement curve, which permits the cars to enter the true curve at a much higher speed than would be possible otherwise. The total circumference of the track is two miles. I believe that cars will be able to average ninety miles per hour for long-distance races. “The track will have a numberof unique features. In the first place it will be of wood. This material has |
been decided upon for several reasons. All the racing drivers want wood, because it is so fast. You see, when you are building a track with scientifically banked curves it is impossible to get a surface of concrete or brick without slight waves. Now, these waves are not noticeable at moderate speeds -- fifty or sixty miles an hour. But when you get up to ninety miles an hour they give a car a terrible jolting, and when you reach speeds of 125 or more miles an hour, which we expect on this track, they would be prohibitive -- the car would be in the air much of the time. “With wood, however, an abosolutely true surface can be secured. Also wood can be shaped to fit the precise curve desired, and it has the added advantage of being easily kept in repair. The wood used will be long-leaf Georgia pine, cut to 2 by 4 inch measure and laid on edge so as to get the advantage of the edge grain. It will be treated with creosote to give fire and weather resisting qualities. The foundation will be concrete on the straightaways, merging into concrete and steel on the turns. The steelwork is now under construction and the ribs are being bent to the exact concave shape which has been decided upon for the curves. “These curves are interesting. They are portions of a true curve with a radius of 850 feet and have been designed so that the maximum speed at which they may be negotiated increases as the track is climbed. “Thus, at the foot of the track on the curve the speed would be about forty miles an hour; a little higher up about fifty-five miles an hour, then sixty-eight miles. then ninety miles, until finally, at the steepest part of the track, 125 miles or more become practical. The track is to be 70 feet wide and will accommodate thirty or thirty-five with ease. Much of the work of design has been performed by Blaine Miller of Indianapolis, who did a great deal of the work on the Indianapolis Speedway. “Great care has been taken with the safety features of the track. On the inside there is a 30-inch wall of concrete, while at the outside the spectators are also protected from possible mishap. The height of the outside edge of the track on the curves is 25 feet. “The grandstands will be by far the largest in the world. The ultimate capacity will be 175,000. They are to be of steel and concrete construction, with flooring of creosoted wood. The construction is of the double-decked type, and at the highest point, the stands will be ninety feet above the ground, or approximately the height of a seven-story building. The portion of the stands to be built for this Fall is 1,800 feet long. The stands will be entered by concourses crossing above the roadway level, so that there will be no crossings at grade in the entire plant. Automobiles entering the parking space in the interior of the oval will do so through tunnels which pass under the track. “There will be five such tunnels, each 30 feet wide, which will be able to take care of the capacity of the parking spaces -- 20,000 cars -- in about an hour. As may be seen from these figures, 175,000 capacity and 20,000 cars parked, the whole project if of Gargantuan stature. In order to handle crowds of such huge proportions an army of attendants will be required. I have calculatedthat we shall need 1,500 men as ushers and attendants on the day of a big race. “Naturally the plan and possibilities have been carefully thought out before we embark on so large a proposition. I believe that provision for such enormous crowds will be entirely justified, however. You see, the track enjoys a unique location. It is within an hour’s trip of 8,000,000 persons. It is thirty minutes from the heart of Manhattan, and the transportation facilities are of the best. In addition it is, of course, within the five-cent fare zone. We are not in the least worried about establishing a clientele. Our anxieties are confined to perfecting the best methods of taking care of it.” Mr. Thompson paused for a moment meditatively. “Motor racing is not to be the only activity on the speedway grounds,” he continued. “Not by any means. The possibilities are almost unlimited for the development of sporting fixtures of the best type. Take football, for example. Of course, we cannot get Yale, Harvard or Princeton to play there, for their agreements and traditions both put that out of the question. But we can have very good games, nevertheless. At present New York has only an occasional chance to see college football at one of the baseball parks when the season is over. Such games as Dartmouth-Carlisle and possibly Cornell and other university contests can easily be played at the speedway. I have hopes also of being able to arrange for the playing of a Western against an Eastern team there. I expect to arrange for high class football games each Saturday afternoon during the season. “For such contests as football games we will have unusual facilities. The field will be laid out at one end of the inner oval and, of course, the seats in the regular grandstand at that end will be used. In addition, we are to have a sectional, knock-down wooden grandstand, which can be quickly erected in the oval facing the curve. This will have a maximum capacity of 40,000. It is a very flexible arrangement and seats for 10,000, 20,000 or any desired number up to the maximum can be provided. With this stand will be used the same care that used to be exercised with the old wooden stands at Yale. There a very high factor of safety was always maintained. In fact the standard of safety was 8 to 1, whereas bridge builders use at most a factor of 5 to 1. I realize that in matters of this kind ‘safety |
first’ is the only maxim to go by. “Much of the property which thespeedway controls is in fine turf; indeed all of it save for a little marsh groud at one end which is to be filled in. When this has been done we will have a wonderful acreage of turf as level as a table. With this natural equipment much can be accomplished. For instance, we propose to develop fine polo fields where matches of all kinds can be played, It will also be possible to put in a great number of splendid tennis courts on which matches of any degree of importance before a gallery of unprecedented size. You see the space within the oval of the track measures 4,000 by 1,600 feet and this gives us all the room in the world to hold all sorts of sporting contests. “One of the features to be developed is track athletics. I do not know that we can arrange to have the next Olympic games at the speedway, but if Europe recovers from the war with any material and any spirit for the Olypic meet and the meet comes to this country, we shall be prepared to hold it. We are going to have the finest track in the oval that money can build and I hope that it will become a centre of an almost municipal character for track meets. It should be a focal point for all the hundreds of schoolboy meets, for instance, which are held at odd spots around New York during the season, in which there is so much interest. “Although it is not our purpose by any means to compete with organized baseball, we will also have ball fields of the best type, and hope to include baseball games outside of the regular league schedules in our program. “one of the important activities at the speedway will be aviation. I do not mean trick flying or stunts in the air of a hippodrome character, but straight flying and flying contests of different kinds. It must be remembered that there is a very large floating population in New York every day which has never seen an aeroplane in action. We expect to have races and matches of various kinds and to have two or three macines of different kinds in the air much of the time. Some combination races, using the track for an automobile, may also be arranged for. “It will be possible, in connection with the Speedway, to have a great flying school also. The situation is ideal for flying. It will be the simplest of matters for the aviators to get a good place to rise within the oval and soar out over the grandstands. We have no overhead wires in connection with the plant; all the wiring connections for telephones, telegraph and every other purpose are to be carried in conduits underground, and this will leave the air free for the human birds. We expect to have a permanent exhibition of actual machines and models from the earliest to the latest types. “There is still another development in connection with the Sheepshead Bay plant to which I am giving serious thought. This is in connection with open-air entertainment of a non-sporting character. For instance, why not open-air opera, on a scale which never has been attemnpted? My experience at New Haven encourages me very much to hope for the extension of things of this sort. Up there outdoor performances of a dramatic nature have been most successful. In fact, I had planned with Granville Barker that we should have a performance of ‘Iphigenia’ in the Yale Bowl. “I believe it would be entirely practicable to give outdoor performances of this kind in the Speedway oval, and I can see no reason whi its scope should not be extended to opera out of doors. Imagine what a wonderful setting could be given to ‘Aida,’ for example, in this way! It would be a performance such as the Khedive of Egypt enjoyed when he had Verdi compose this work and give it, but it would be raised to the nth power. I am sure that opera of the best quality given outdoors would attract a host of people. It could be done, I should think, easily with the top price of $1.50 a seat. “I am giving most earnest thought to the plans for the beautification of the great grounds we have acquired and especially to all those features which will make for the comfort and safety of the host which we will be able to accommodate. It is a hige responsibility to care for a city of 175,000 people. In such a population, concentrated as it must be, every contingency must be provided for. The problem becomes more serious almost in arithmetical progression with each thousand of capacity that you add above 50,000. When the 100,000 mark is reached the difficulties are still further increased. “At Sheepshead Bay we shall have a large corps of physicians and nurses, rest rooms, hospitals, and all the appartus of a large city. It is no mean task to select and secure the little army of ticket takers and ushers required alone. They must be men of the right stamp. I am moving slowly, but I hope to make as few mistakes as possible in these vital particulars. “While we hope, naturally, that this big undertaking will be a profitable one, I prefer to look on it rather as the establishment of a great public centre for the cultivation of the best in sport and outdoor life. We hope to handle it is such a way that it will be of immense value to the community.” The Sheepshead Bay Speedway and all that it stands for has received the substantial backing of many of the country’s men of mark. Among the subscribers to the stock of the company may be mentioned Percy R. Pyne, 2nd, Horace L. Kilborn, George F. Maker, Mortimer L. Schiff, Frank Bailey, Henry M. Swetland, Charles H. Sabin and James Blair, Jr., of New York; Stanley Field, James A. Patten, John N. Scott, Watson M. Blair, J. M. Cudahy, James Deering, John Stuart and Chauncey B. Keep of Chicago, and Carl C. Fisher of Indianapolis. |
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The Dream Didn't Happen . . .
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The New York Times |
| The Sheepshead Bay race track property in Brooklyn, once famous as the scene of historic contests between American thouroughbreds, was sold yesterday by the owners, the Harkness Estate Company and other interests, to Max N. Natanson. Not only the race track and motordome property, but sixty cottages, bungalows and Plum Beach Island in Sheepshead Bay, together with other valuable acreage were included in the deal. the transaction, which was negotiated by the Charles F. Noyes Company, will involve eventually more than $20,000,000. By his purchase, Mr. Natanson obtains complete ownership of nearly 650 acres of land in the vicinity of Sheepshead Bay, with a bay frontage of approximately 4,000 feet and an additional water frontage on Emmons Avenue; more than 20 blocks of property on Gravesend Road, and more than 5,000 feet on Ocean Avenue, at the foot of which is the bridge over Sheepshead Bay to Manhattan Beach. More than 6,000 lots are involved. The Sheepshead Bay race track was sold by the Coney Island Jockey Club, in April, 1915, to a syndicate of automobile manufacturers and Wall Street men for the purpose of building a motordrome. The late Harry S. Harkness was president of the purchasing company, the Sheepshead Bay Speedway Corporation, and Everard Thompson, formerly director of the Yale Bowl, Charles E. Danforth, Percy R. Pyne 2d, Horace M. Kilborn and Blaine H. Miller were interested. The entire cost of the project, it was announced, would be $3,500,000. The first great contest held on the new speedway was the Astor Cup Race, on Oct. 2, 1915. Early in 1917 judgment for $2,040,000 was entered in favor of the Coney Island Jockey Club against the Sheepshead Bay Speedway Corporation, and shortly afterward the property was taken over by Mr. Harkness. Since that time the future of the proerty has been in doubt. Various proposals for its use were made, but nothing definite was accomplished, principally because of the desire of the Harkness estate to sell the property for all cash. Meantime, the Police Department has held its annual field day on the ground, and other exhibitions have been staged there. Tells Reasons for Purchase In discussing the deal by which he has become the owner of the property, Mr. Natanson said: “The transaction has been under negotiation for many months. The final closing was deferred until yesterday because of title conditions and the necessity for acquiring contiguous properties. My principal reason for acquiring this extensive property is that it is generally conceded to be the finest unimproved tract in the metropolitan district. It is within the ten-mile zone and less than thirty minutes from City Hall or Forty-second Street. No property within the city has better transportation facilities, and while part of the Brooklyn |
mainland, it has the advantage of being swept by ocean breezes. With the improvement the entire Sheepshead Bay neighborhood will be immensely benefited and real estate values, I think, greatly stimulated.” Charles F. Noyes, the broker, said: “Many offers have been made for theproperty, both as a whole or in part, but these offers have been steadfastly refused, because the Harkness Estate Company, the chief owner, was unwilling to divide their holding or sell it except on an all cash basis. “Mr. Natanson is paying all cash for the property, and has already resold a substantial part to the Mandelbaum-Lewine Syndicate. Other negotiations are pending with a combination of Western capitalists to take over approximately 1,000 of the lots for immediate development. These men were negotiating for the property before Mr. Natanson made the offer which ended in the purchase. “Mr. Natanson will reseve from 1,000 to 1,500 of the lots, covering the better part of the property, for resale to home builders, and these lots will be sold through Joseph P. Day, either at private sale or public auction at a date to be announced later. Meantime landscape architects and engineers have been engaged to improve the property and make it suitable for immediate home building. Plan City Park and Golf Course “Bororugh President Reigelmann of Brooklyn within the last thirty days has recommended, and the Board of Estimate has under consideration, the acquirement of a part of the property for a city park and public golf course. At the same time, private interests are figuring on taking over a part of the proerty for the establishment of a golf club, and the City Planning Committee has signified its intention of selecting several units for improvement with schoolhouses.” The property is the largest piece of land in one ownership in the metropolitan district and the purchase is one of the largest ever closed in the history of New York real estate. Definite figures as to the selling price were withheld, but it is known that the Sheepshead Bay race track unit was mortgaged originally for $2,500,000 and that the property was assessed by the city at $2,600,000. It is also understood that Mr. Natanson’s original outlay on all his purchases, including the development of the parcels, will run close to $3,000,000, and that with the improvements to be begun this year the total will run close to $20,000,000. Joseph P. Day will be the auctioneer in any auction sale that it may be decided to hold, and the property meanwhile will be handled by the Charles F. Noyes Company and Joseph P. Day. Cornelius J. Sullivan was the attorney who represented the Harkness estate. Walter M. Wechsler and Alexander S. Natanson were the attorneys who represented Mr. Natanson. |
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