A tracker borrows from American flat track: a flat, tapered seat and tail unit, number boards where the side covers were, wide bars, and no front brake on the purest ones. On the street you keep the brake.
Flat track is raced on dirt ovals with no front brake and no rear suspension travel to speak of, which produces a very specific machine. Short, light, steep enough to turn instantly, with the weight forward. Translating that to the road is mostly about geometry, and geometry is where most tracker builds quietly go wrong.
Get the rake and ride height right and a tracker is the sharpest-handling thing you can build from a cheap donor. Get it wrong and you have a bike that will not hold a line.
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