From the 1910’s to the 1920’s board track racing in the US was thriving. The races were exciting as the wooden tracks were wide enough to allow for ample overtaking and banked to enable high speeds while stadium-style seating was easily placed around the ovals (or sometimes circles) so audiences could enjoy all of the action. Unfortunately the Great Depression would strike the final nails in the coffin in this form of motorsport after a series of factors (such as expensive upkeep costs for maintaining the boards making up the tracks) began its demise.
With the form of racing being popular in the US, naturally Harley and Indian were both two of the major players involved in the board track scene. The first board track racers were essentially bicycles with engines and gas tanks attached to them and that’s exactly what these two “replica” examples are: no frills, no nonsense, bare-essentials racers. Tracks became longer while the bikes got faster but it was the small displacement racers like this that made the masses fall in love with the sport in the first place, tens of thousands would regularly attend races.
The seller has two early American board track racers for sale, both in great condition cosmetically and mechanically (sans a small chip in the paint on the Indian’s tank). The racers also share the same price in addition to their 66cc single-cylinder two-stroke power plants that top out at 35mph according to the seller. Both bikes also share 2.4-liter fuel-tanks with beautifully painted and period correct logos for the bikes respective manufacturers.
These are some cool replica examples that allow collectors or motorsport history enthusiasts to own a board track racing without spending hundreds of thousands of dollars. Due to the simplicity of the build and the minimal number of components required, board track replicas are actually pretty common but like all replica builds the level of attention to detail, NOS parts used, historical accuracy and period correct components and overall quality greatly varies.
You can find both of these early-1900’s American board track racer replicas (though I consider them more like tribute builds) for sale on craigslist (here’s the Harley, here’s the Indian) in Santa Clarita, California (30-45 minutes north of Los Angeles) with the Indian and Harley-Davidson sharing a price of $2,500.