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Between Races By OSCAR OTIS Talk on Future Track Architecture Designer Froelichs Ideal Course Crowds of 100,000 Will Be Common DEL MAR, Calif., Aug. 20 It was our good fortune yesterday to have a long talk with Art Froelich, a man who already has had a profound influence upon the welfare and comfort of millions of American racegoers, and we daresay who will play an even more important role in the racing enjoyment of more millions in the years to come. Froelich, who is the architect responsible for beautiful Hollywood Park, has become the national leader in the field of race track design, and by race track, we mean that part of the course catering to the public, not the racing strip itself, although he is no stranger to sod and soil. ,In addition to Hollywood Park, Froelich is the designer of the new "super duper" clubhouse and turf club at Laurel, the extension of the stand under way at Garden State Park and the hew clubhouse for the Camden .course scheduled for construction next year, the modernistic plant at Las Vegas and he has acted as consultant to other racing groups, including those in foreign lands. Froelich has made a preliminary survey for one New York metropolitan group who have been toying with the idea of a twenty-five million dollar plant, although we can add that any discussions of fact regarding this proposed track are at the moment premature. In addition to the tracks named, Froelich redesigned Golden Gate Fields after the war, and has worked on many of Santa Anitas problems. We asked Froelich if he had ever given any-consideration to the ideal race course of tomorrow, without thought of cost, on the theory that maybe if an ideal track were on the drawing boards, tracks making new construction could draw upon the plan for ideas and not with any thought that such a track ever would be a reality. Froelich replied that he had, but that the costs would be staggering. He agreed, however, that at least parts of the plan of the ideal track would be within the financial .reach of most every course. "A look at one new race track on the drawing boards in just roughed out plans reveals a probable cost of 8,000,000 for an 18,000 seat plant, without taking into consideration the cost of the land and many other constructional items," says Froelich, "Thats about ,000 per seat. I am convinced myself that crowds of 100,000 will not be uncommon, and that crowds of upward of 50,000 will be the rule in big metropolitan centers when the tracks can accommodate that many people in comfort. But this type of track must, and will come. It wont happen overnight. The ideal track would have about one seat for every two patrons on their Saturdays, i.e., a crowd of 50,000 should expect about 25,000 seats. The track should be so built that everybody on the grounds can see the race, and that entails large ramps and standee areas sc elevated that people can see. "Many of our present-day American tracks, are too shallow, having been built before the days of pari-mutuels. Therefore, tracks must have lots of depth, and, in order to get as many people as close as possible to the finish line, the stands should go up. There is no theoretical limit to height, but seven, or eight decks would be feasible, all served by elevators or escalators. On week days, some of the upper decks could be closed off. "A modern race track is also essentially a traffic job, and with this in mind, aisles would become true concourses leading to the standee areas, which, as I said, would be arranged so everyone could look over the head of the fellow in front of him. Everything in the track, where possible, would be ramps instead of stairs. All pari-mutuelSa, facilities would be intercommunicating. All seats would be self rising, to get them out of the way of people when not in use and facilitate their getting in and out and to and from wherever they might want to go, including the pari-mutuel windows. All concession stands would have their own connected system of supply, so no food or drink would be delivered to the stands through open public areas. "There would be no pillars or posts, and everything in the way of a roof or i Continued on Page Thk-Nine BETWEEN RACES By OSCAR OTIS Continued fnm- Page Three decking would be cantilever construction, . such as-prevails now at some South American tracks. But cantilever construction is extremely costly and can be done in South America because of low labor costs. Another costly item would be moving walkwajs in the parking lots to bring people directly to the gates from -their cars. These walkways would be reversed late in the afternoon. The present system of free busses from the outer reaches of the parking lots at Santa Anita and Hollywood are fine, but they are nevertheless a makeshift, "You might be interested to know that I designed what I felt was an ideal layout for the Panamanian government, and this mostly had to do with the stable area. Our stables were spaced well apart, were as nearly fireproof as could be accomplished, and dormitories were laid out for the stable help with appointments comparable to those in the finest hotels. There was a hospital for thoroughbreds with operating rooms and a post-mortem room, indeed, the layout was almost a veterinary school. The area had swimming pools for the horses, and the compost, or manure boxes, had a flume system which permitted flushing, sanitizing, and providing an antiseptic. "Building lengthwise, where the stands run up to the head of the stretch, is not the ultimate answer to public welfare, but they are better than no stands at all. Construction costs are highly variable. Take Las Vegas, for instance. Everybody looks at it and sees a plant smack on the desert, and figures it was not too much of a job to put in the foundations on what looks like as dry a land as you ever would see. However, dig down a few feet and you run into water, not a lot of it but enough to make the ground mushy. Las Vegas is actually built on piles. "In some respects, Golden Gate Fields is the best current example of a track rising instead of sprawling, but its main disadvantage is that it is too shallow. This could not be helped, of course, because the track backs into a hill of solid rock. Financial considerations perhaps will be a bar to the ideal track, as an architect Sees possible, ever being built. But the sooner American tracks approach the ideal as closely as possible, the larger will become their crowds" and the sooner racing will become the number one national sport, if it isnt that already. I might add that nothing was ever done on our Panama survey because of a change in government, although our design for the stable area there was made without taking cost into consideration in any way."
