Saturday 5th September 1896

The first race held on a track in the U.S. took place at Narragansett Park near Providence, Rhode Island on September 5, 1896. The race was won by Andrew L. Riker of New York on the Riker Electric Trap No. 1. The Riker employed two Riker electric motors mounted on the rear axle, with 32-100 amp accumulators mounted in a ‘battery’.The Riker finished the five mile distance first in 15:01. Second was an Electrobat built by Morris & Salom of Philadelphia, :13 seconds behind, and a Duryea gasoline carriage another 3:33 behind. Riker later became chief engineer at Locomobile in 1902 and was elected the first president of the Society of American Engineers (SAE) in 1904.