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The Los Angeles Motordrome (not to be confused with the Los Angeles Coliseum Motordrome) was a circular wood board race track. It was located in Playa del Rey, California, and opened in 1910. In addition to automobile racing, it was used for motorcycle competition and aviation activities. The Motordrome was a scaled-up version of a bicycling velodrome, and was built by a pre-eminent constructor of velodromes at the time. It was the first of numerous board tracks built for auto racing in the 1910s and 1920s. As an early example of a race track purpose-built for competition, it marked the first use of then-innovative safety features that later became common to most tracks. The Motordrome was highly successful, attracting many competitors and large crowds of paying spectators, but it lasted just three years. A fire destroyed the track in January 1913. ==Background== The Motordrome was the brainchild of Hungarian-born mechanical engineer Frederick Moskovics, who at the time was an employee of Remy Electric, and who later became an early member of the Society of Automotive Engineers and eventually, president of the Stutz Motor Company. Moskovics had previously worked for Maybach and Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft, and through these connections had become involved in racing as the manager of Daimler's racing team, in 1904.〔 Years before, as a student, Moskovics had pursued an interest in bicycle racing, and had made the acquaintance of champion bicycle racer Jack Prince.〔〔 Prince, an Englishman, had emigrated to the United States after the end of his racing career and developed a thriving business building velodromes.〔 By 1909, Prince had built the Los Angeles Coliseum Motordrome, a velodrome-like motorcycle racing facility that was just over in circumference.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Pioneers of American Motorcycle Racing - Chapter 2 )〕 Around the time that Moskovics' career brought him to Los Angeles, in 1909, Carl Fisher was developing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and automobile racing was gaining momentum as a business.〔〔 To bring racing to Los Angeles, Moskovics partnered with his old friend Prince; a group of local businessmen including oil man and racing enthusiast Frank A. Garbutt; and the Pacific Electric Railway Company, which supplied spectators by building a line to the new track. Public announcements were made and contracts were let in January 1910, and race dates for officially-sanctioned contests were obtained from the Automobile Association of America's Contest Board. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Los Angeles Motordrome」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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