DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's the story of Bermuda Valley Farm in Fayette County. Now, Dr. I.
E. Clark was a state senator, a physician, and a man who owned this farm — and somewhere in that list of credentials, he clearly fancied himself a track designer. Back in 1889, he set out to lay one of those out.
The plan was straightforward enough: a half-mile oval. Clean, sensible, respectable. The kind of thing a senator-physician puts his name on.
So he climbed up into his buggy and traced the course himself, freehand, right across the land. When they measured what he'd actually drawn, it came out to five-eighths of a mile. Not a half.
Five-eighths. Now, whether Dr. Clark ever acknowledged the discrepancy, the marker does not say.
What it does say is that the track got built anyway. Mule-drawn Fresnos — those old-fashioned earth-moving scoops — came in and graded the whole thing into shape, crooked math and all. In 1894, the state chartered that track for the Schulenburg Livestock and Fair Association, and from there the place found its stride.
Famous horses ran here in its heyday. And not just visitors passing through, either — right here on this farm, Dr. Clark and his son Harvey bred two of Texas' most famous horses: Orb, and My Dandy.
Eventually the horses gave way to something louder, and cars raced here too. Fifty yards north of where you're standing, all of that happened — born from a buggy ride that went just a little bit longer than intended.
What the marker says
Site of noted race track (50 yds. N) laid out 1889 by Dr. I. E. Clark, state senator and physician who owned this farm. Although he had planned a 1/2-mile oval track, the course he traced (free style) in his buggy measured 5/8 mile. Later it was graded, using mule-drawn "Fresnos" (old-fashioned scoops for moving earth). The track was chartered 1894 by the state for the Schulenburg Livestock and Fair Association. Famous horses ran here in its heyday. Here, too, Clark and son Harvey bred 2 of Texas' most famous horses "Orb" and "My Dandy." Cars later raced here. (1969)