Racetrack Higgins

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.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). 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.. Posted 13 January 2019.
== 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. by newsboys-of-1899 on Tumblr. Posted 24 January 2018. He was a leader of the Brooklyn newsboys' union. Last updated in July 2023. and took a major role after Kid Blink was disgraced. He is well-documented as a lover of horses. by newsboys-of-1899 on Tumblr. Posted 16 December 2017.
== Fandom ==
Race has been a fan favorite for a long time, outranked only by Spot Conlon. poll on The Newsies Inferno. Results finalized in 2004.
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. by Newsboys of 1899. Published to Wordpress on 19 December 2017. The post is mirrored on Tumblr here.
=== 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. tag on AO3, with synonyms including Anthony "Racetrack" Higgins, Anthony Higgins, and Antionio Higgins. Accessed August 15, 2024. 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. by Dragon at The Printing Press. At the time of archiving, the site was last updated in January 1999. 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. by Grace at Grace's "Newsies" Fan Fiction Page! The earliest archive of this story was made in October 1999. by Sassy on Fanfiction.net. Published 13 September 1999. including The Birth of the Gambler on Brooklyn Lodging House. Archived February 16, 2002. by Kendall. First archived April 26, 2001. by Spitfire at So Ya Wanna Be A Newsie, Huh? Archived on April 15, 2001. Visible in story list on October 5, 1999.Play Me a Song by Gank on Kendall's Newsies Page (Archived 2001)Racetrack roleplay bio at Central Park Lodging House. (Archived 2002) Racetrack's Story by Skittery and Samantha at The Newsie Fan Fiction Collection (Archived 1999)Movie Characters on The Newsgirls' Master List (2000. Archived 2001) "Barely Even Friends," a work from circa 1999 in a series focusing on Race, features an Italian restaurant named Antonio's.Barely Even Friends by Christy, hosted at Bottle Alley: Newsies Fan Fiction, 1999, archived 2014 Most of the early uses of Tony may have been in 2001,Life's A Bet by Kendall at Kendall's Newsies Page (Archived 2001)LightFooted by Firecat at Kendall's Newsies Page (Archived 2001) but it appeared occasionally in 1999.Race's Brother by Racetrack and RiffNTommy at The Newsie Fan Fiction Collection (Archived 1999)Not Like Us by Christy at Bottle Alley: Newsies Fan Fiction (1999. Archived 2004) by Annie aka Bluey at Racetrack's Newsie Page (2001) In 2003, the highly-praised work "Everything You've Done Wrong" called Race "Tony" by sloanne on Fanfiction.net (2003) and is cited by some fans as the origin of both Anthony/Antonio/Antony and the name Sean for Spot Conlon. by so0tings on Tumblr, reblogs by timetogoslumming and letter-from-the-refuge. Posted 25-26 January 2021. A LiveJournal user made a list of "real names" for newsies and listed Racetrack's as Anthony Higgins in 2004 by sharps on LiveJournal. Posted 27 October 2004. and popular fic writer queenitsy also used the name. by queenitsy (2004) by RosieRed on FFN. Published 17 March 2003. Fic listed on the by irontears on Livejournal. by kerrypolka was posted on the newsies100 LiveJournal community in 2004 and got two comments The earliest known usage of Antonio was in 2005Allergy 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) and Antony was introduced in 2006.Freedom by Marauding Newsies on Fanfiction.net (2006) The extremely popular "How I Spent My Summer Vacation," posted starting in 2006, used the name Anthony for Race, as listed on the character pageCharacter List and introduced in the seventh chapter,Chapter Seven: Sibling Rivalry as well as the nickname Tony beginning in chapter nineteen.Chapter Nineteen: At The Hop
=== Ethnicity ===
Racetrack is commonly written as Italian, primarily due to his film actor, Max Casella, being Italian on his mother's sideOkay, where did "Race is Italian" come from? by so0tings, reblog by timetogoslumming (2021) and stage actor Ben Cook is also thought to be Italian.Okay, where did "Race is Italian" come from? by so0tings, reblog by dontloseurheadbestie (2021) While less known, the early film draft known as Hard Promises describes Racetrack as a "tall, skinny, gambling Italian beanpole.", hosted on Geocities. (Archived 2014) "How I Spent My Summer Vacation" introduces Race as an "Italian kid." 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 ===
*Racetrack Higgins/Spot Conlon
*Albert DaSilva/Racetrack Higgins
*Jack Kelly/Racetrack Higgins
*Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins/Albert DaSilva
*Spot Conlon/Racetrack Higgins/Albert DaSilva/Elmer
== Example Fanworks ==
=== Fanfiction ===
* by Braids21 (2003–2005)
* Everything You've Done Wrong by sloanne (2005)
* by The Second Batgirl (2003–2006)
* by Arlene2 (2006)
* by Queen Kez the Wicked (2005–2007)
* by outwithlanterns (2015)
* by collieflower (2017)
* The Beast of Brooklyn by ArtemisRayne (2019)
===Fanart===
* by goldenflames66 (2009)
* by rebeckles (2010)
* by spotsies (2017)
* by goodolreliable-crows (2021)
* by shimmyshoomy (2023)
===Fanmixes and Playlists===
* by barricadette (date?)
* by Con
===Vids===
* by Blue (2020)
===Miscellaneous===
*Max Casella and Racetrack Higgins Fan Art at maxcasellaiscool (pre-2009)
==Fannish Links==
*Racetrack Higgins tag on AO3
*Racetrack H. in Newsies (Movie) on Fanfiction.net
*Race in Newsies (Play/Musical) on Fanfiction.net
== References ==
Category:Newsies Characters