Exploring an Abandoned Race Track Frozen in Time!

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In this episode we're exploring the historic Atlantic City Race Course. Opened in 1946, the complex was once one of the country's premier horse racing tracks, with races attended by tens of thousands of patrons. Today, the only sound of life inside the grandstand is the ticking of hundreds of synchronized clocks as time steadily passes by.

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Thanks to Musicbed for providing the music in this video.

[TheProperPeople]

If you miss these limited time offers, you can still get 20% off using our link! Offers subject to change. #helixsleep

[Greasyman.]

Please, whatever you do, never change the intro music. It's a staple for me and love the vibes. Been watching for God knows how long. Keep up the unuiqe content!

[mikebruce]

FYI the clocks are slave clocks to a master clock. The master clock is trying to set the clocks to the correct time. This happens after a loss of power. It's possible however that the master clock is screwed up and it's caught in some kind of a fault condition.
Another great video guys!

[CC-kgce]

The absolute gold standard for exploration channels. Always incredibly compelling viewing.

[matthewcox]

The shot of the cashier/calculator machines with ferns growing around them has to be one of the most picturesque moments in any of your videos.

[johnchambers]

Hi guys, you did a very good video on the abandoned Atlantic City Race Course. My family went to all the various racetracks around the Philadelphia area. This track was very successful especially in the 1950’s to at least the late 1960’s. In those years there was a racing circuit where horse racing was only conducted a few months a year and the horses traveled to whatever track was open at the time. Atlantic City was one of the best summertime racetracks and had many famous horses and jockeys compete there. One of the reasons there were so many windows to bet or cash winning tickets was on a Saturday it was not unusual to have over 30, 000 people attend the races here. Also prior to the tote system being computerized you bought your tickets at Sellers windows and then if you won you had to go to a separate Cashier window to get your money from your winning ticket. When you were in the more modern area of the track the signs said tellers because you could both buy and cash winning tickets at the same window. You also wondered about the area with no seats that was glass enclosed. That was the racetrack’s dinning room. It had table seating and most times you would have to have a reservation and be dressed nice to gain admission. The reason it was glass enclosed it unlike the rest of the track was air conditioned. A nice feature on those hot and humid days of summer. One last note I know you were not horse race fans when you said the boards in the infield of the track was a scoreboard but any race fan knows it’s called a tote board. While that was somewhat correct since it displayed the winning horse numbers and time of the race its main function was to display betting information. It showed the total amount of money in each pool and how much money was bet on each horse giving updates till the race started. Afterward it also displayed the payoffs of the various bets. At some tracks it especially in later years also featured a video board so you could see the in house tv broadcast of the race. I visited this track many times even near when live racing ended. Near the end only the lower level seats were used and many of the public areas you visited were closed off. However even to the end they did try to provide services to the customers that came. The competition of the lottery, casinos and then the overlap of other racetracks running as the same time as Atlantic City caused its end.

[mariebelladonna]

Great video, guys! My husband was a thoroughbred jockey, and rode at Atlantic City Race Course several times in the late 70s, when it was all night racing. Just wish you'd have found the jocks' room. Hubby says it was just past that room you entered, when you walked through that split between the two buildings.

[christiangonzales]

The best thing about these videos is that it feels like us viewers are there with you exploring.

[harbourwoodlandvisitor]

the multiple clocks within the building seen operating but not in an orthodox fashion are most likely a set of slave clocks which are dependant on the one master clock for accurate time keeping. the master clock located in an office somewhere within the building would send a signal out with the correct time to all the slave clocks inside the building by wire.

some master clocks manufactured in that era of that building were connected to a dedicated radio receiver. it would receive an analogue time signal which broadcast out all across the US. the time signal would be received and this would keep the master clock in check along with all the slave clocks running within a few milliseconds of accuracy.

the master clock may have malfunctioned or stopped receiving the time signal seeing how all the slave clocks are no longer showing the correct time. the actual race timings in the early days of that building may have been dependant on the accuracy of the master clock during races.

[sailingspark]

When I saw the thumbnail, I knew it was going to be the Atlantic City Racecourse. Good to see a place local to me for a change. NJ is hard on their abandoned places, knocking them down and building new almost immediately, if not for the dying mall next door, it might have already been repurposed. It's like the whole area is holding it's breath to see what becomes of the Hamilton Mall and if it recovers or finally shuts down for good.

I have not been through the racecourse in since just after it closed. As you can tell by some of the equipment stored in the parking lot, they occasionally hold heavy equipment auctions there, the place I worked for at the time would occasionally bid on man lifts and the like and I would go with my boss to check them out and bring them home. I think they held them once a year or so, you could tell by the build up of trucks, cranes, and lifts.

Honestly I am not surprised at the amount of decay. The Atlantic City region gets more rain than Seattle, and is continually damp in winter and humid in summer. As you can tell with the "lake" the water table is quite high, this keeps them from going down below ground level and building a basement in any of the nearby buildings. It is a shame you could not have gotten into the assortment of stables, I am certain those would have been interesting to see.

[Bluebloods]

Crazy to think just HOW busy that place must've been at one time for there to be THAT many different posts for employees (sellers, tellers, etc., alone), not to mention all the rest of the employees.

[ThatsMe]

Finally!!!! An abandoned site I've driven by 100s of times in my life as a Pennsylvanian goingnto AC for beach days and weekends and gambling when I turned 21

[dueljet]

As I am sure others have said, the clocks are synchronous /impulse clocks. They were made by Simplex and American Time among others. There is a master clock somewhere trying to set all the other clocks. It is similar to what you would see in a school, hospital, or office building in the past.

[livzdave]

This race track is featured in the 1964 Alfred Hitchcock movie Marnie, starring Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery. Quite a few shots of the grandstand, although all of the interior shots were done on a soundstage since Hitchcock despised location shooting....

[vincentdelgado]

There’s something beautiful about abandoned places. Just the feeling of all the memories that were made there throughout the years, and that it was once filled with people.

[nathanshope]

You have no idea how cool this is for me right now. I’m such a big fan of this channel, I live not far from this place and even explored it myself. Love your videos guys!

[drshelkie]

The "calculators" are called Adding Machines. Back then, us old people had never heard of a calculator 🤣!

[ellagarrison]

I LOVE horse racing so when I saw this video I immediately clicked. I’ve been following your channel for years now and this is the greatest combination ever. Ty for exploring and capturing this incredible place.

[bba]

The clock is trying to synchronize. It was a system where a master clock sets all the other clocks. They run ahead until they find a sync signal which seems to be amiss. Very cool explore!

[bsbforum]

Would've loved to see it in person when it was still very much actively used. Amazing video guys, as always