by Bob Carson

Editor’s Note: The USTA website is pleased to present freelance writer Bob Carson and his popular “Outside the Box” features. This monthly series is a menu of outlandish proposals presented with a wink — but the purpose behind them is serious. The views contained in this column are that of the author alone, and do not necessarily represent the opinions or views of the United States Trotting Association.

“Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

Bob Carson

Many of us grew up using rotary dial telephones; we look back fondly to those relics with the springy cord fixed above the toaster on the kitchen wall. Some may wish that the phone never evolved into an amazingly complex computer that slips into our pockets. But it has. No matter your feelings on the evolution of the phone, it is indisputable that as a commercial product, rotary phones are a tough sell in the modern world. As old customers slip away, the sale will be ever more difficult.

Harness racing faces the same problem.

Recently, using cash as a carrot and cyberspace as a window, I commanded the attention of a dozen non-harness racing fans to take a look at our sport over the summer. The group was composed of smart, perceptive, attentive and often sports-obsessed people. Seeing our sport from fresh perspectives should be mandatory in mapping our future.

Autumn Ryan graphic

Allow me to list a selection of comments about our sport that can be interpreted as troubling or instructive, depending upon your point of view.

“It’s sort of boring, they fall into single file, the last horse in line seems miles from the front. I hardly saw my horse the whole time. It feels like an eternity between races.”

“I don’t know why they call them mile races. A seventh grade geometry student can figure out that only the number one horse actually races one mile, the rest of the horses travel a longer distance.”

“Nobody goes back after the race to point out what went right or wrong.”

“They all look pretty much the same — horses and races. Not wild about a car starting the race.”

“Starting at the back of the line, and several of the horses will always be in the rear of the pack, is like going to a baseball game and having your team down by ten runs in the first inning. This made me want to turn off the screen after about 15 seconds.”

“Well, my horse did not seem to like the start or maybe the car that leads them around; she started to gallop and basically my races were not, well…races.”

***

Eventually, I will share the entire series. The project consists of dialog between us (harness race fans) and them (non-harness race fans). You will find it interesting. Today’s is a side road, a proposal to address our core product — the race.

As you read the next few paragraphs, set aside everything you know and love about our sport. Consider us merely a product, one of an infinite number of gambling products, looking for attention. Our objective is to improve our product using the feedback from this tiny test group.

Let’s begin with where we want to go; a race that is simpler for the public to follow, more intriguing to view, and fairer for the participants. Side effects may lead to a safer and more aesthetically pleasing product. At the very minimum, the proposed modification would be something new that could be promoted as we experiment with various versions.

Some will read this and say, “Oh, we investigated that in 1975 and decided against it — the idea is nothing new.” This cannot be true. Old ideas are automatically new ideas when they are set in different times, to different audiences, and in different formats. If you owned a phone in 1975, or 1995, the one you will own in 2015 will be a phone — but different from its predecessors.

Getting back to our product, the race — any former track athlete or coach would be shocked if a race were proposed where some competitors are at a disadvantage before the starting pistol is fired. Harness racing does this routinely. And we do not need to. When turns are involved, quarter milers in track and field equalize the race with a staggered start. We could too.

I’m betting that at some point you have considered a variation of this idea.

Scratch the starting car. Assign lanes which horses cannot leave until the quarter-mile marker of the contest.

The exact distance to stagger the start in various lanes is not rocket science, nor is an appropriate penalty for having a hoof over the starting mark or drifting into another lane in the first quarter. The lines and lanes can be as simple as chalk and paint, or as complex as photosensitive tracing and tracking beams.

The details could be worked out. In this prototype, the start will be a simple countdown of five beeps, each a second apart, as the drivers gain speed and gauge the distance; the sixth sound is a Claxton to begin the race. Each driver has the task of staying in their lane and trying to time the start as close as possible. Once again, they cannot leave their lane until the quarter-mile line. Any horse that violates, or jumps the mark, can easily be identified using photographs, photo beams or other technical innovations.

Back to our product, what are the benefits?

• Single file racing is eliminated for a large portion of the race.
• Holes are negated.
• Post bias is mitigated.
• The viewer has a more exciting product with action in all four quarters of a race.
• On a five-eighths track the true jockeying for position would be right in front of the grandstand.
• Horses would be much easier to identify at the start with less obstruction.
• Perhaps less breaking.
• Horse are likely to be across the track at most points of the race; many will just race outside the whole race because cover and saving distance become less urgent.

Experimenting with our core product gives us an improved chance of survival. Reinvention is not a four letter word. Dead is a four letter word. That darn phone and its cousins in the cyber world have given us yet another chance. People can find us. It is our responsibility to help them enjoy what they find.