Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

411 results found

Standardbred horse

(Encyclopedia)Standardbred horse or trotter, American breed of light horse developed especially for harness, or sulky, racing. Of Thoroughbred ancestry, it is similar in appearance to a thoroughbred but has shorter...

Moss, Sir Stirling Craufurd

(Encyclopedia)Moss, Sir Stirling Craufurd, 1929–2020, British auto racing driver. Known for his sportsmanship, speed, and courage, Moss became a full-time driver on the Grand Prix circuit in 1953. He subsequently...

Pincay, Laffit Alejandro, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Pincay, Laffit Alejandro, Jr. läfˈēt älākhänˈdrō pēnˈkī, pĭnˈ– [key], 1946–, Panamanian jockey, b. Panama City. He began racing in Panama and came to the United States in 1965. Known ...

Francis, Dick

(Encyclopedia)Francis, Dick (Richard Stanley Francis), 1920–2010, English novelist. He was a champion steeplechase jockey (1946–57) and a racing writer for a London newspaper (1957–73). Francis parlayed his k...

hydroplane

(Encyclopedia)hydroplane, small, high-powered racing boat designed to skim along the surface of the water. Its hull is so shaped that at high speeds the bow is tilted up out of the water, reducing the effect of fri...

Littleton

(Encyclopedia)Littleton, city (1990 pop. 33,685), seat of Arapahoe co., N central Colo.; platted 1812, inc. 1890. It is a suburb south of Denver in an irrigated farm area. Its manufactures include construction mate...

Secretariat

(Encyclopedia)Secretariat, 1970–89, thoroughbred race horse. Nicknamed “Big Red,” he was trained by Lucien Laurin and ridden by Ron Turcotte. In 1973 Secretariat won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont...

Benz, Karl

(Encyclopedia)Benz, Karl bĕnts [key], 1844–1929, German engineer, credited with building the first automobile powered by an internal-combustion engine. The car, driven in Mannheim in 1885 and patented in 1886, h...

Foyt, A. J.

(Encyclopedia)Foyt, A. J. (Anthony Joseph Foyt, Jr.), 1935–, American auto-racing driver, b. Houston. Foyt was the first person to win the Indianapolis 500 race four times (1961, 1964, 1967, 1977). He also won th...

Owens, Jesse

(Encyclopedia)Owens, Jesse, 1913–80, U.S. track star, b. Alabama. He was also called John Cleveland Owens, although his original name was said to be simply J. C. Owens. After his family moved to Cleveland he exce...

Browse by Subject