 Owned by a group of Wall Street and other business investors, including Harry Harkness of Cleveland and Carl G. Fisher of Indianapolis, the Sheepshead Bay Speedway Corporation acquired the defunct horse racing facility known as the Sheepshead Bay Race Track (which had been owned by William Kissam Vanderbilt and Leonard Jerome's Coney Island Jockey Club).The purchase was completed in April 1915 and the first Astor Cup race was held on October 9 that year.Run over a two-mile (3 km) banked oval board track, the race was marred by the death of Harry Grant who died when his vehicle crashed during a practice run.