HARRISBURG PA – John Polvinale, who started the Facebook website
Harness Racing History to share his extensive collection of memorabilia and has
curated it to grow into one of harness racing’s most popular sites in the new
technology, has been named the winner of a President’s Award by U.S. Harness
Writers Association head Shawn Wiles for its contribution to the knowledge and
enjoyment of the sport by people both inside and outside of the sport.
Polvinale first went to the races at Roosevelt Raceway when the
track’s age was still in single digits, then furthered his knowledge on the
backstretch of Freehold Raceway, where trainer “Big Mike” Petito urged him to
purchase a horse named Steady New Yorker in 1979. “In his first start for me,
he went off at double digits, but he still won by eight lengths, with Jack
Moiseyev driving. I thought this sport was going to be a piece of cake – which,
of course, has not turned out to be the case.”
But the inevitable ups and downs of racing did nothing to deter
Polvinale’s enthusiasm for the game, with his love of history also leading him
to assemble a large collection of harness-related materials, books, trophies –
you name it. “I had started to watch race replays on the Internet and social
media, and with the encouragement of friends who wanted me to share my
collection, I decided to use these emerging media to start Harness Racing
History.”
Polvinale soon found that his new site had struck resonantly with
many harness racing fans – and also with people with only a passing or little
knowledge of the sport. “It started with people that I knew,” John remembered,
“but then those people talked to people in their own ‘circles,’ including those
not in racing,” and a “ripple effect” was soon evident, with those outside the
sulky community finding items and people that interested them. Harness Racing
History just broke the 30,000 “member” plateau, and in a given month will have
100,000 “engagements” (posts, comments, likes, views). The site’s viewership is
60-40 male-female, and 60% fall within the desired 25-54 age range demographic.
It was Polvinale who started the Facebook page, doing most of the
early postings, and he still checks the site “about once during most of my
waking hours,” watching for any signs of commercialism or incivility, both of
which are quickly eradicated. However, he is very proud that now “it’s mostly
the members, the visitors to the site who have determined its ‘shape,’ and are
the drivers of what appears on the website. We know of certain trends, say
people who want to see the replays of certain races at certain times, but it’s
really our audience who are the content shapers with their postings and
comments.
“One of the things that gives me the greatest satisfaction is that
the site has become a place where ‘family reunites’ – people who haven’t heard
from another party for 20 or 30 years will see some experience they had in
common and make a comment, and old friendships are reborn.” Polvinale’s
catchwords for operating the site are “pure” and “simple,” and those feelings
resonate so much that when USHWA president Wiles told John of his winning the
award, Shawn used those very words in congratulating Polvinale – “and it was
evident he had captured the spirit of the site exactly.”
John Polvinale will be honored at USHWA’s annual Dan Patch Awards
Banquet, celebrating the best and brightest of harness racing in the past year.
The banquet honoring the champions of 2018 will be held on Sunday, February 24,
2019 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando FL, the climax of a weekend
that also finds USHWA holding its annual national meetings.
Tickets for the Dan Patch Awards Banquet are $175, with a filet
mignon dinner featured; “post times” on February 24 are cocktails at 6 p.m. and
dinner at 7 p.m. Tickets, and other Banquet-related information, can be
obtained through Dinner Planning Committee Chair Judy Davis-Wilson, at zoe8874@aol.com or 302 359 3630.
Hotel reservations for those attending can be made through USHWA’s
website, www.ushwa.org; a link to the
hotel’s computer is on the front page of the website. Those who would like to
take out congratulatory ads for awardwinners in the always-popular Dan Patch
Awards Journal can do so by contacting Kim Rinker at trotrink@aol.com (the 2018 journal is online
at the writers’ website).
