Editing Racetrack (game) (section)

==History and contemporary use==
The origins of the game are unknown, but it certainly existed as early as the 1960s. The rules for the game, and a sample track game was published by [[Martin Gardner]] in January 1973 in his "Mathematical Games" column in ''[[Scientific American]]'';<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mathematical-games-1973-01/ | title=Scientific American Magazine Archives, January 1973, Mathematical Games | work=Scientific American | date=January 1973 | accessdate=27 October 2014 | last=Gardner | first=Martin}}</ref> and it was again described in ''[[Car and Driver]]'' magazine, in August 1973, page 65.  Today, the game is used by math and physics teachers around the world when teaching [[vector (geometry)|vectors]] and [[kinematics]].  However, the game has a certain charm of its own, and may be played as a pure recreation.

Martin Gardner noted that the game was "virtually unknown" in the United States, and called it "a truly remarkable simulation of automobile racing".  He mentions having learned the game from Jürg Nievergelt, "a computer scientist at the University of Illinois who picked it up on a recent trip to Switzerland". ''Car and Driver'' described it as having an "almost supernatural" resemblance to actual racing, commenting that "If you enter a turn too rapidly, you ''will'' spin. If you "brake" too early, it will take you longer to accelerate out of the turn."

[[Triplanetary]] was a science fiction rocket ship racing game <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sjgames.com/triplan/ |title=Triplanetary |publisher=Sjgames.com |date= |accessdate=2010-02-09}}</ref> that was sold commercially between 1973 and 1981. It used similar rules to Racetrack but on a hexagonal grid and with the spaceships being placed in the center of the grid cells rather than at the vertices. The game used a laminated board which could be written on with a [[grease pencil]].