Since the first race held at the Goshen Historic Track in 1838, chances are, it has never seen this much horsepower in one day. A world premier event featuring exotic cars, exotic chariot races, and family oriented activities will take place on June 7. The event is jointly hosted by the World Chariot Racing Association (WCRA), Celebrity Farms, RCDolner, the Harness Racing Museum, and the Goshen Historic Track, with wide participation and support from leading harness racing tracks, owners, leaders, trainers, drivers, and others.
At the June 7 event, the theme is racing for awareness and raising money for a cure. Proceeds from the event will support the Goshen Historic Track and the Harness Racing Museum as well as the following charities:
The Children of Fallen Soldiers Relief Fund, a non-profit 501 (c) 3 organization founded in October 2003 as a means of providing college grants and financial assistance to surviving children and spouses of U.S. Military Service members who have lost their lives in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. Click here for more info.
The University of Michigan Linda Dolce Scleroderma Research Fund, an organization dedicated to finding a cure for Scleroderma. This disease is the most fatal of the rheumatic diseases. It causes life-threatening damage to internal organs and progressive tightening of the skin. Scleroderma affects 2.5 million victims worldwide and has no cure. Click here for more info.
The Chris Vasiliou Memorial Foundation, established to serve the higher purpose of raising awareness and finding a cure for Vasculitis. Chris Vasiliou, only 14 years young, lost his battle to Vasculitis after weeks of valiant struggling. Chris was a young, strong, vibrant, innocent and loving child. Click here for more info.
The opening festivities of Grand Circuit Month and the Launch of the World Chariot Racing Association will start at 12:00 p.m., on June 7, rain date June 14, at the Goshen Historic Track and the Harness Museum. Attendees will be among the first in the world to view prototypes of Celebrity Farms’ exotic exhibition chariots in action in exhibition races during the event. The chariots will also be available for a sneak preview at the Goshen Historic Track on Youth Day, June 6. On the 6th, harness racing competitions will be held between local high school students for a chance to win scholarship money.
Those who visit the Harness Museum neighboring the track on June 7 and contribute to the supported charities will receive a gift bag filled with exotic car paraphernalia and will be entered to win a ride with a professional racer in the debut exotic chariot exhibition races. Commemorative trophies will be awarded to race winners. All donors will also be eligible to win other prizes including a miniature model of the Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa that recently sold for $12.4 million in Maranello, Italy.
RCDolner’s 1st Annual Exotic Car Tour will be traveling from the Suburban Golf Club in Union, NJ to the Thayer Hotel in West Point, NY and in its final stretch will arrive in Goshen, NY at 4:00 p.m. to showcase exotic cars at the Goshen Historic Track. The tour will be comprised of dozens of exotics including Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Maseratis, and Porsches. Click here and follow the event link to view a full list and pictures of participating cars.
Additional event features include track-side picnic food, cotton candy, face painting, entertainment, and much more. Profits from sales and donations will go to the supported charities and organizations.
The World Chariot Racing Association aims to increase awareness of the sport and to take the first steps toward an extreme make-over and the re-branding of harness racing. This includes the renaming of the sport to 'chariot racing,' a term that dates back 2800 years, to make it more familiar to the public. The WCRA also aims to inform the public that chariot racing is family friendly and part of the green revolution. The Association is made up of breeders, owners, trainers, drivers, tracks, fans, media groups, corporate sponsors and other associations dedicated to the success of the sport.
“In recent years, the existing industry has done a terrible job of marketing our sport. In 800 BC, when chariot racing was an opening ceremony in the Olympics in ancient Greece and even less than 50 years ago, harness racing was as large as the Super Bowl in the United States; in many European countries that is still the case today," Sam Stathis of Celebrity Farms and the World Chariot Racing Association said.
“We want to bring back the days when the sport was focused on high-level competition between teams of human and equine athletes, romance, and family entertainment. These attributes are now overshadowed by the emphasis on gambling and we want to change that perception - that’s why we chose the Goshen Historic Track for our launch location, a venue where there is no gambling. Although everyone enjoys the thrill of putting a couple of dollars down on a horse, that’s not all that these races are about and that’s what we need to let the public know.”
With the help of a growing international following and planned television broadcasts, the World Chariot Racing Association hopes to eventually reinstate chariot racing as an Olympic sport.
"The WCRA believes that as the sport grows, environmentally friendly and responsible sponsors will gravitate toward sponsoring chariot racing over sponsoring races between gasoline-guzzling and carbon emitting vehicles. “I’ve sat behind fast cars, fast boats, and fast planes and I can attest that one horse power is just as exciting as 600. And if the excitement is not enough to win you over, the byproduct of our one horsepower is not detrimental to the environment, it helps to nurture it,” Stathis said.
The Association also aims to tap into economic stimulus money. According to Stathis, harness racing personnel already make up some of the hardest working in the world and the WCRA aims to help retrain and educate those workers to be even more efficient and proficient. In addition to assisting in providing retraining and education, the World Chariot Racing Association will help to create new jobs and implement the use of greener technology. Meeting these criteria for assistance from President Obama and his administration should provide the chariot racing industry with a substantial portion of the finances it needs to thrive, while offering environmentally and economically sound solutions.