by Fred Hudson

Huntington Station, NY — The Copperthite Racetrack Historical Marker Dedication on Sunday (July 31) was both a historical and fun day that was well attended by the Northern Virginia community.

Most of the attendees had never seen a harness race and knew very little, if anything, about the sport.

Photo courtesy of Fred Hudson

In period dress sitting in the bike was Jon Vrana.

The Copperthite Racetrack history includes the first ever fly-over of a sporting event and this occurred at this harness racetrack on July 4, 1909. The pilots were Orville and Wilbur Wright, the inventors of the airplane.

The harness racing industry was well represented with Betsy Brown, John Brown, Charlie Robbins Jr., Art and Nancy Lisi, Art Lisi Jr. and myself. The star of the day was the Standardbred racehorse, Hot Rod Pete, who stole the show.

From Hot Rod Pete’s arrival, the attendees flocked to him and posed for many pictures. He was followed around by the kids eager to pose for pictures, sit on his back, or feed him one of the carrots that his trainer, Betsy Brown, had brought with her.

Twice during the day, Hot Rod Pete with Charlie Robbins in the bike, did an exhibition time trial on what would have been the racetrack’s infield. There was only a small section of the original track still intact and due to the rain the night before it was decided that it would be safer to perform the harness race demonstration on the turf.

The demonstration races were officially called and timed by Jon Vrara, the President of the Burke Historical Society. Hot Rod Pete had a time of 46 seconds for the quarter-mile.

During the day Charlie Robbins and I both spoke and took questions regarding the sport of harness racing and blacksmith Art Lisi Jr. explained about the craft of horse shoeing. Throughout the day efforts were made at fundraising for the Standardbred Retirement Foundation.

At the harness racing table attendees picked up literature supplied by the USTA, SRF, Rosecroft Raceway and the Meadowlands. As always, the USTA coloring books were a hit with the kids.

The Capitol Model T Ford Club brought 15 Model T cars to the event. The music was performed by the King Street Bluegrass and there were many people in period dress.

Mike Copperthite, the great grandson of Henry Copperthite (who founded the track) of the Connecticut Copperthite Pie Baking Company, supplied pies and refreshments for everyone.

In attendance were organizers of the event that included members from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, The Burke Historical Society, Virginia Historical Marker Committee and members of the Fairfax County History Commission.

The day concluded with the unveiling of the historic marker and speeches by Mike Copperthite, Sharon Bulova, Chariman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Virginia State Delegate Eileen Filler-Corn and Jon Vrara.