While we are on the topic of smallest and steepest tracks I thought I'd tell about a track that used to exist here on Long Island. It was built by a retired six day bike racer in his back yard in Lindenhurst behind a small tract house. It was built right to the property lines and was 20 laps to the mile. Apparently the man was a brick mason and he would bring home a few bricks or concrete blocks from the job every day. I guess the thing was made from a hodge podge of miscellaneous masonry but had a nice troweled riding surface. Legend has it that he rode 20 miles a day on it. He set post next to the pole lane with a counter mounted on top of it. He would slap the counter every time he passed by so that he didn't have to count the laps in his head. The track was not wide enough for adults to ride two a breast but kids in the Midget or Cub categories could have 2 or 3 up races. I saw a picture once of a man standing next to the track that was taken for the purpose of illustrating how steep the banking was. He was holding his arm straight out to the side and his finger tips were touching the track surface.
I never saw the track but I heard about it from several people. My friend Craig Roberts, who was the National Cub ( 9 and 10 year olds ) Champion in 1960, trained on the track regularly. He and his brothers, Doug and Jordan, were coached by the man who built the track. Craig keeps promising to bring me pictures. I'll have to bug him...
Jamie Swan - Northport, New York