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JOHN SLOAN Death takes famed race track architect and former member of the New York State Racing Commission. John Sloan Dies At 66 in New York Drew Plans for Several Race Tracks;FormerCommissioner , And Past NASRC President NEW YORK, N. Y., June 25. John Sloan, prominent New York architect and former member of the New York State Racing Commission and president of the National Association of State Racing Commissioners, died at the Leroy Sanitarium here last night at the age of 66. The body is now reposing at T Abbey, 66th Street and Lexington Avenue, New York. Funeral services will be held at 11 a. m. Monday at St. Vincents Ferrer Church, 66th Street and Lexington Avenue, with burial at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Fleasantville, N. Y. Slona, though widely known in racing circles as a racing commission member and crusader for reform of malpractices in the sport, made his mark as a designer and builder. One of his outstanding architectural achievements is the Graybar Building, a skyscraper office structure in midtown New York, where he maintained the offices of his firm, John Sloan Associates-Designed MRA Track In racing, Sloan drew the plans for Garden State Park, the Atlantic City Race Course, the Michigan Racing Associations Detroit course, and the Hipodromo de las Americas in Mexico City, in addition to designing various improvements for other race tracks throughout the country. He continually strived to impress on race track owners the need for - redesigning their plants for the comfort of patrons. He was outspoken in his beliefs and frequently declared that in .the light of the prosperity racing has enjoyed in recent years, management has been too conservative both in buiuding new plants and renovating existing ones. He once said: Look at the grandstands and parking areas offered the public the public on which the sport depends. In most cases the stands are ugly, uncomfortable and. inconvenient for the proper handling of crowds. Look at the racing strips of such vital importance to horsemen. Most of them are designed on a traditional pattern that I believe to be outmoded. They are not properly banked, surfaced, nor properly drained." Campaigned for More Comfortable Tracks Sloans campaign for better arid more comfortable race tracks was just one of his contributions to the sport. He is credited with coming up with the first practical method of horse identification through lip tatooing. Sloan invented his process while serving with the TJ. S. Remount Bureau in Virginia many years ago, and as early as 1938 suggested that the lip tattoo be adopted as a measure to cope with the problem of "ringers" on the turf. From his suggestion grew the present nationwide lip tattoo service now under the supervision -of the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau. Appointed along with chairman Herbert Bayard Swope and John Hay Whitney -s the first commissioners on New Yorks revamped state racing commission in 1934, Sloan served on that board until 1942. During his tenure as a New York racir.g commissioner, Sloan was twice elected to the presidency of the National Association of State Racing Commissioners, holding that post in 1939 and again in 1940. He previously was a first vice-president of the organization. It was while he was serving as head of the NASRC that Sloan voiced much of his criticism of racing practices, particularly where it concerned the fan. He declared himself in favor of adopting measures to eliminate "ringers," tighten controls on stimulation and afford better accommodations for the patrons. He aroused much comment when, speaking as both an architect and racing fan, he suggested that Belmont Park reduce the circumference of its , track from a mile and a half to a mile Continued on Page Fifty-Three John Sloan Succumbs at 66; Architect of Many Race Tracks Continued from Page Eight and a quarter and eliminate the Widener chute. In addition to Atlantic City, Garden State, Detroit and Hipodromo, Sloan also designed the construction that transformed the old Empire City race track into the current Yonkers Raceway, supervised the modernization program at Roosevelt Raceway, and built the Hipodromo Nacional in Caracas, Venezuela. Outside of racing, he was the architect for the Chanin building, Hotel St. Regis and the West Side Express Highway in New York city. Sloans stand on stressing comfort for the fans was made evident in a statement some years ago when he said, "Stands should be designed for a minimum of confusion and. for a maximum of visibility. With a race track crowd, there is constant movement back and forth between seats and lawn and sellers and cashiers windows and the paddock. "The race track of the future, in my opinion, will go up in the air rather than extending on two sides . . . There will be much shorter length to new stands,, but they will be much deeper, with cantilever roofs, and several levels, each level complete with windows, refreshment bars and other facilities. The crowd will be oncen-trated on the finish line, but various levels will permit the accommodation of greater numbers than can possibly be Seated today. These levels will be reached by escalator and elevators." Sloansprophecy has been borne out in recent race track building developments. Surviving are his wife, the former Martha Moore, a sister, Mrs; Elsie Sloan Farley, and two daughters, Mrs. Robert H. Carmichael and Mrs. Jules R.. Gimbernat, Jr.
