CRANSTON

The streets remain, echoing the names of car manufacturers, most of which are long gone: Peerless, Overland, Packard, Cadillac and Fiat. They surround Cranston Stadium, where the stands for high school sports spectators sit atop an embankment that has a permanent place in automotive history.

Pronyne Motorsports Museum

A race between a steam engine car and a gasoline car at Narragansett race track in Cranston. 1916. Slideshow. Slideshow

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Yet the memory has faded for most. Rhode Island's rich auto racing heritage, stretching back 110 years, is cherished by only a handful of die-hards now. The story, well documented, surfaces every decade or so. The last time was in 1996, the centennial year for the initial auto race at Narragansett Park Speedway, generally considered to be the first oval auto race track in the country.

The history of auto racing in Rhode Island parallels the Industrial Revolution. It started here, had a good run and then headed south.

A case can even be made that the roots of NASCAR lie in the Ocean State.

Throughout the 20th century, there were several racetracks in Rhode Island, some nine ovals, and a drag strip in Charlestown in the '50s and early '60s. Some of the most famous drivers in history raced here, and Newport's William K. Vanderbilt became one of the most heralded race promoters of his time. Barney Oldfield, Eddie Richenbacher (before he changed the spelling of his last name), Louis Chevrolet and J. Frank Duryea, to name a few.

"They were barnstorming guys. There was a lot more going on here than one would think at first glance," says race historian Bob Sylvia of Warwick. Sylvia, who raced at Seekonk Speedway in the early '60s, writes for various track publications and has a treasure trove of racing memorabilia, in addition to a wealth of trackside memories.

With AAA, the sanctioning body for most auto races in the first half of the last century, and Tasca Ford, whose teams defined stock car and drag racing in the 1950s and '60s, returning to the fold after an absence of more than 50 and 40 years respectively, the Rhode Island connection again comes to the fore. There are no race tracks here -- you have to go to New Hampshire now -- but there are thousands of NASCAR fans, who remain somewhat closeted without a venue.

Rhode Island, not the heartland, should be the lifeblood of auto racing, but the tradition sadly slipped away. Now there are supermarkets, industrial parks and housing developments where the race tracks stood.

The country's first auto race was on Sept. 7, 1896, at Narragansett Trotting Park, a mile-long flat dirt oval for horses. When the horse track ceased operating, the state took over the site for a fairground, and the race was part of the fair, which is why there were about 60,000 spectators on hand. The race was a demonstration set up by auto manufacturers to show off the new mechanical wonders, powered by gasoline, steam and batteries (electric cars).

Seven cars started the race, and four ran at an average speed of 15 mph or better, as the rules stipulated. The winner was a Riker Electric, which completed the five miles in 15 minutes, 1 3/4 seconds. The entry from the Electric Carriage and Wagon Co. took second place, and a Duryea was third.

The Cranston oval hosted the barnstormers and other racers through 1914, when it was closed for renovations. It reopened in September 1915 as a paved track with a banked oval with a 100-mile race for Indy cars. Richenbacher, now Eddie Rikenbaker in the programs, won the race after coming back from a three-lap deficit.

In 1917, according to Sylvia, the track was downgraded to Class B status, as Class A tracks were two-mile ovals and the mile ovals slipped a grade. In April 1924 a fire swept through the track, and it was torn down a year later.

Other Rhode Island tracks include Aquidneck Park, where Vanderbilt held a race in 1900 or 1901. A state airport is now on the site. "It was going to be a road race," Sylvia said. "But some of the cars took practice turns on Ocean Drive in Newport and people were scared. So they moved the event to a half-mile track, held it for a couple of years, and that was it for Newport."

Sylvia says that in 1927 or thereabouts there was a track at the site of Barry Field in Woonsocket that held just one race, and from 1938 through 1940 there was a track in Pascoag on Route 100, now the site of an industrial park. The Kingston Fairgrounds had racing from 1948 through 1951. The Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence held midget indoor races in 1937, 1951 and 1959.

And there was midget car racing at Ponta delGada off Shove Street in Tiverton, near where Sylvia grew up. "A soccer stadium was built in 1923, and they put a track around the stadium and ran partially in 1941 and '42. They ran again in 1945; in '46 it was going good, but in '47 it petered out," he said. A couple of revivals were tried in the early '50s, but "they tore it down in 1957 and put a drive-in theater there." Now it is the site of the Portuguese Social Club.

Rhode Island's final oval track gasp was in Lonsdale, next to the Blackstone River on Mendon Road, where the Stop & Shop supermarket is. The track operated from 1947 to 1956, and Sylvia, who has fond memories of watching races there, is one who makes the connection between the Ocean State and the formation of NASCAR.

Built for midget racing, and drawing crowds of more than 30,000, Lonsdale had its first stock car race on Oct. 26, 1947. It was won by Georgia driver Fonty Flock, and race promoter Bill France also came north for the race, which was a huge success. On Dec. 12, a group of 22 men, including Flock and France, met at the Streamline Inn Motel in Daytona, Fla., and formed the National Association for Stock Car Automobile Racing. "Three or four guys from New England were there, including a couple from Rhode Island," Sylvia says. "The last surviving member of that group was Rhode Island's Sammy Packard, who died a couple of years ago."

Packard, a Barrington native, raced all over the country, beginning in midgets, and was instrumental in Lonsdale's first stock car race. He also raced motorcycles and boats, and later restored more than 100 race cars. Packard told the Daytona Beach News-Journal in 2003 that NASCAR was formed to protect the drivers. "We'd get done running somewhere and the promoter would skip town with the money," he told the newspaper. "It happened to me several times."

NASCAR went from dirt ovals to paved tracks (56 events on 11 tracks in 1956) and on to become a national pastime. After the Tasca Racing Team ran its final race in 1965, Rhode Island drove into the racing sunset.

Sylvia says this is because of the state's not-in-my-backyard mentality. "There was a track plan all set to go in North Smithfield in the '60s," he said, "but politics got in the way."

'Get a horse!'
Legend has it that the phrase "get a horse!" emanated from the first oval track auto race at the old Narragansett Park Speedway in Cranston on Sept. 7, 1896.

The track was mainly used for horseracing, and when the first horseless carriages lined up to circle the track, the horseracing starter was pressed into service.

"All seven cars were on the starting line, quaking, shivering and wheezing," said historian Bob Sylvia. "The starter dropped the flag and yelled, 'Now go, if you can.'

"And as they tried to pick up speed someone in the crowd yelled, 'Get a horse! "

As it turned out, the phrase had a longer life than the race track, which closed in 1923.

Racing artifacts on display
PAWTUCKET -- Racing fans who want to explore the history of Rhode Island's tracks and drivers can view the extensive collection of memorabilia housed at the Pronyne Motor Sports Museum at 8 Cleveland St., around the corner from the Modern Diner.

Midget racers, stock cars and drag racers are on display, as well as artifacts from Rhode Island race tracks, books, photos, scale models, videos and other historical items.

Much of the material is from the collection of writer/historian Bob Sylvia and race car driver Rick Mariscal. Special exhibits are included from time to time.

The collection usually can be viewed on Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and weekends from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. There is no charge, but it's advisable to call (401) 447-4202 first. Appointments also can be made.

For more information and directions, visit pronynemotorsports.com.