Racetrack Higgins

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Character
Name: "Racetrack" Higgins
Occupation: newsboy
Relationships:
Fandom: Newsies
Other:
"illustration of a smiling Racetrack lounging in a red chair and holding a cup in one hand, with a soft beige wood paneling on the wall behind him. "
Portrait by mushiimune (2022)
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Racetrack Higgins, also called Racer or Race, is a Manhattan newsboy in Newsies. While he is a minor character, Race is one of the most popular in the fandom, alongside Spot Conlon. His main ship, by extension, is Sprace. As of June 2024, Sprace is the second most tagged ship for Newsies fanfiction with over 2500 works.[1] Fans may know him by a number of fanon first names, including Antonio and Tony.

Canon

In an early draft of the film, Race was noted as being eighteen. According to his trading card, he is an orphan. He is a known gambler, named for his time at the Sheephead Races, and a flirt (with both women and men). He carries an unlit cigar but is never shown to smoke it.[2]

History

Racetrack's character was inspired by a prominent participator in the 1899 newsboys' strike, Ed "Race Track" Higgins, though his name was not discovered by the fandom until recently.[3] He was a leader of the Brooklyn newsboys' union[4] and took a major role after Kid Blink was disgraced. He is well-documented as a lover of horses.[5]

Fandom

Race has been a fan favorite for a long time, outranked only by Spot Conlon.[6]

In 2017, a popular newsboys history Tumblr blog, newsboys-of-1899, made a post commenting on the possibility that Racetrack Higgins and Spot Conlon were, historically, the same person; this became a popular rumor in the fandom despite its unlikelihood.[7]

Name

Like many Newsies characters, Racetrack does not have a canon first name. Despite this, he is almost universally called Anthony, Antonio, Antony, or Tony in fanfiction.[8] This trend traces back to the early presence of the online Newsies fandom.

The first known work to use Anthony was first archived in January 1999, "Race's Secret," hosted at The Printing Press.[9] In September 1999, "The Birth of the Gambler" was published to Fanfiction.net, making it the oldest to use the name on that site. The name continued to be used on both FFN and personal sites, as well as some popular fandom archives.[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] "Barely Even Friends," a work from circa 1999 in a series focusing on Race, features an Italian restaurant named Antonio's.[19] Most of the early uses of Tony may have been in 2001,[20][21] but it appeared occasionally in 1999.[22][17][23][24] In 2003, the highly-praised work "Everything You've Done Wrong" called Race "Tony"[25] and is cited by some fans as the origin of both Anthony/Antonio/Antony and the name Sean for Spot Conlon.[26] A LiveJournal user made a list of "real names" for newsies and listed Racetrack's as Anthony Higgins in 2004[27] and popular fic writer queenitsy also used the name.[28][29][30] The earliest known usage of Antonio was in 2005[31] and Antony was introduced in 2006.[32] The extremely popular "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," posted starting in 2006, used the name Anthony for Race, as listed on the character page[33] and introduced in the seventh chapter,[34] as well as the nickname Tony beginning in chapter nineteen.[35]

Ethnicity

Racetrack is commonly written as Italian, primarily due to his film actor, Max Casella, being Italian on his mother's side[36] and stage actor Ben Cook is also thought to be Italian.[37] While less known, the early film draft known as Hard Promises describes Racetrack as a "tall, skinny, gambling Italian beanpole."[38] "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" introduces Race as an "Italian kid."[39] Race's surname, Higgins, is a point of contention in regards to his Italian background.

Neurodivergency

Race is often interpreted as having ADHD. His Newsiepedia bio highlights impulsive gambling, stimming with a cigar, and instances of quick distraction.

Family

In some AUs, Race is frequently written as a brother to Crutchie and Jack Kelly. This may be rooted in their positions as the most prominent and respected Manhattan Newsies at the beginning of the story.

Other Fanon and Tropes

  • Race as a transgender man (see Trans Racetrack Higgins)
  • Modern AU: alternative universe stories that take Racetrack out of the Victorian period and place him into a modern setting. These often go hand in hand with High School AU and College AUs because of Racetrack's relative age.
  • Hurt/Comfort: Racetrack being hurt and receiving comfort from others seems to be popular. Although, one can also find fanworks where Racetrack is the one providing the comfort.

Shipping

Example Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Fanmixes and Playlists

Vids

Miscellaneous

Fannish Links

References

  1. ^ Newsies - All Media Types tag on Archive Of Our Own (retrieved June 23, 2024). Archive.org snapshot taken June 26, 2024 shows only 2419 works in the "Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins" tag, because the snapshot only displays publicly available works (presumably about 100 works were login-locked).
  2. ^ Newsiepedia, Archived version. Posted 13 January 2019.
  3. ^ The legal name of Race Track Higgins appears to have been Ed Higgins., Archived version by newsboys-of-1899 on Tumblr. Posted 24 January 2018.
  4. ^ Newsies Wiki, Archived version. Last updated in July 2023.
  5. ^ Who was Race Track Higgins?, Archived version by newsboys-of-1899 on Tumblr. Posted 16 December 2017.
  6. ^ Your Favorite Newsie, Archived version poll on The Newsies Inferno. Results finalized in 2004.
  7. ^ On Spot Conlon and Race Track Higgins, Archived version by Newsboys of 1899. Published to Wordpress on 19 December 2017. The post is mirrored on Tumblr here.
  8. ^ Racetrack Higgins, Archived version tag on AO3, with synonyms including Anthony "Racetrack" Higgins, Anthony Higgins, and Antionio Higgins. Accessed August 15, 2024.
  9. ^ Race's Secret, Archived version by Dragon at The Printing Press. At the time of archiving, the site was last updated in January 1999.
  10. ^ To Peek Behind the Headlines, Archived version by Grace at Grace's "Newsies" Fan Fiction Page! The earliest archive of this story was made in October 1999.
  11. ^ The Birth of the Gambler, Archived version by Sassy on Fanfiction.net. Published 13 September 1999.
  12. ^ Story List, Archived version including The Birth of the Gambler on Brooklyn Lodging House. Archived February 16, 2002.
  13. ^ Transcendence, Archived version by Kendall. First archived April 26, 2001.
  14. ^ Double or Nothing, Archived version by Spitfire at So Ya Wanna Be A Newsie, Huh? Archived on April 15, 2001. Visible in story list on October 5, 1999.
  15. ^ Play Me a Song by Gank on Kendall's Newsies Page (Archived 2001)
  16. ^ Racetrack roleplay bio at Central Park Lodging House. (Archived 2002)
  17. ^ a b Racetrack's Story by Skittery and Samantha at The Newsie Fan Fiction Collection (Archived 1999)
  18. ^ Movie Characters on The Newsgirls' Master List (2000. Archived 2001)
  19. ^ Barely Even Friends by Christy, hosted at Bottle Alley: Newsies Fan Fiction, 1999, archived 2014
  20. ^ Life's A Bet by Kendall at Kendall's Newsies Page (Archived 2001)
  21. ^ LightFooted by Firecat at Kendall's Newsies Page (Archived 2001)
  22. ^ Race's Brother by Racetrack and RiffNTommy at The Newsie Fan Fiction Collection (Archived 1999)
  23. ^ Not Like Us by Christy at Bottle Alley: Newsies Fan Fiction (1999. Archived 2004)
  24. ^ Just Beneath the Surface, Archived version by Annie aka Bluey at Racetrack's Newsie Page (2001)
  25. ^ Everything You've Done Wrong, Archived version by sloanne on Fanfiction.net (2003)
  26. ^ Okay, where did “Race is Italian” come from?, Archived version by so0tings on Tumblr, reblogs by timetogoslumming and letter-from-the-refuge. Posted 25-26 January 2021.
  27. ^ Newsies Names, Archived version by sharps on LiveJournal. Posted 27 October 2004.
  28. ^ Where Were You When The Lights Went Out? Racetrack: Denial, Archived version by queenitsy (2004)
  29. ^ Newsies: Now And Forever, Archived version by RosieRed on FFN. Published 17 March 2003. Fic listed on the this rec list, Archived version by irontears on Livejournal.
  30. ^ In Every Generation by kerrypolka was posted on the newsies100 LiveJournal community in 2004 and got two comments
  31. ^ Allergy Season on The Refuge, via Wayback Machine, unknown author, I can't remember where I found that year but it was before the site went down. (Archived 2008)
  32. ^ Freedom by Marauding Newsies on Fanfiction.net (2006)
  33. ^ Character List
  34. ^ Chapter Seven: Sibling Rivalry
  35. ^ Chapter Nineteen: At The Hop
  36. ^ Okay, where did "Race is Italian" come from? by so0tings, reblog by timetogoslumming (2021)
  37. ^ Okay, where did "Race is Italian" come from? by so0tings, reblog by dontloseurheadbestie (2021)
  38. ^ Newsies Original Script, Archived version, hosted on Geocities. (Archived 2014)
  39. ^ Chapter Two: The Rest Of the Day, and Some Of the Night
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