OLD TIME RACER TO BUILD TRACKS

OLD TIME RACER TO BUILD TRACKS Frank D. Elwell Sun, Oct 27, 1907 – Page 19 · San Francisco Chronicle (San Francisco, California) · Newspapers.com

Frank D. Elwell Will Assist in Re-establishing Bike Game.

Old-time wheelmen and enthusiasts who followed the sport twenty years ago will perhaps recall some of the feats accomplished in the racing in the early days of the sport in this city by Frank D. Elwell. At that time he was the foremost rider of the country.

Elwell rode his first race back in 1886. It was a fifty-mile road race, in which all of the crack riders were entered, and the course was from Gilroy to Menlo Park. He won that race so easily that the numerous spectators who had gathered at the finish were about to depart before the second man put in an appearance. Elwell followed this victory with a series of wins in sprint races over such men as Bert Cook, Billy Davis, L. Larzelere, Bob Turner and Wing, a crack rider of Los Angeles. In twenty-three of these races Elwell won twenty-two, and in the other, he fell. He rode his last race on New Year's day in 1889. That day he won the State championship from Bert Cook.

Elwell then took up the work of contracting, and he was as successful in the building of wheeling tracks as he had been as a rider. It was he who furnished the plans for the famous Madison Square Garden track, which has been the scene of many great races. He also built the tracks at Salt Lake and Ogden.

The first track which he planned for this city was for the Bay City Wheelmen, of which club Elwell was a member. Just at present Elwell is conducting the building of the indoor track at the Pavilion Rink. The work on this track will start to-morrow and will be completed by the end of the week. This will be a ten-lap track, and the first meet will be held on the 8th of next month. The track, though somewhat small, will be so constructed that the riders may compete without any danger. Elwell thoroughly understands the banking of a track, and every angle has been carefully considered.