Yellow Belly? Damn, haven't heard that name in abour 40 years. I ran there once. At the end where they gave out your timing slip, my slip had a speed, but no e.t. When I ask why, the guy said cause thats what happens when you take off in the right lane and finished in the left one. Now I knew that the car had gotten a little squirly, but sheeeesshh. Ahhh, back in thold days,, things were simple.................and fun .
I love your story! I must hear more! Do you remember what the guys name was you bought it from? How dare you remove woodies from my area! How long ago was this? The dragstrip was the original air strip back in the day. You are probably right about the return road, there are still crops on the side. It occasionally floods in a spot and you have to go thru the flood on your return. Now a days people do "usually" land on the grass strip perpandicular to the strip. Tell me more!
Outside of San Angelo,Tx. there is a farming town called Wall. There is an old WW 2 bomber training base located nearby.The cotten farmers that own the place have leased out the place out for a drag strip since the fiftys. In the late 60's it was a real fun place(I remember things like a field of 8 injected nitro fed's,wheelstanders,jet cars and Dick Harrell type flopper match racing).I even talked them into the track free for showing up early and SWEEPING the entire track! Today it is still opperating as a non santioned e.t. track. The name of the place is now San Angelo dragway. They have a web site under that name (yahoo).
we have a local track that opened in 1961.it was called Union Hill then.Still open today and is called music city raceway.
I used to work at Sunset drag Strip back in the 60s and yes we used to use wood blocks to keep the cars from drifting at the line and we didnt have a chrstmas tree we used flags I stil today remember some of the grats who ran there Art and walt Arfons the HUG Lil Red wagon and many others including al lthe locals and every now and then the run what you brung back then we ran Saturday and sundays.
Circle Drag Strip was the first strip that I ever ran at. The first time I ever raced I won a trophy in G stock class. I'll never forget it. A friend of mine told me that the snuff box was sitting under a shade tree in Irving texas. He went to see it last year and tried to buy it but they told his it wasn't for sale. He told me that he offered them $10,000 for it with no motor or transmission and they turned it down.
We had a nostalgia race at Yellow Belly last year. It was a real good time. I used to race there back in the sixties.
I raced at both Quaker City and Youngstown. I eventually ended up working at Kerr's Speed Shop in Youngstown. I moved to Cincinnati to open a new shop for them in 68 and moved again in 70 to Dayton where I opened another shop for them. The chain was bought out by Midwest and eventually the Dayton store was bought by Jerry Ault who owned Ault and James. Great times. Ended up in Fl. in 74 could not stand the Ohio winters any longer. I guess the Navy ruined me when they sent me to San Diego in 64. Carlsbad had a T/F show every Friday night. Man what memories.
For those who were ever at the old Concord Drag Strip, a 1/4 mile strip about 5 miles from Charlotte Motor Speedway, you can reminisce about great times long ago. THIS IS IT TODAY. A perfectly flat, wide and long street in a housing development.
Mansfield has an interesting early history in drag racing. For several years, the Gents car club conducted races in the mid-1950s on a 1/5th-mile drag strip on old State Route 13 next to an airport landing strip. Their races, which drew sizable crowds, were sanctioned by NHRA. In 1958, they held a 2-day state championship race on the adjacent airport runway. I tell about this track in more detail in the encyclopedia of U.S. drag strips that I am compiling online. I'm including sanctioned, independent, outlaw, and old speedway tracks, too. It is still a work-in-progress, but I have thus far entered most of the drag strips that opened at least fifty years ago. It is organized by state, with chronological listings and alphabetical entries. Each entry gives a capsule history, years of operation, links to old YouTube videos or radio ads, a link to submit your memories of drag strips, old newspaper ads, etc. My goal is to include all drag strips that opened before 1977, that is, strips that opened 40 years ago. If I'm missing some tracks, I'd like to know about them. Also please consider adding your memories of drag strips where you either raced at or attended. It is located at: http://dragstriplist.com
Thompson Raceway Park - Opened ca 1958 - still in operation Milan Dragway near Detroit - opened early sixties - still very much in business Dragway 42 is now being rebuilt (only two lanes, not four as original) with what may be the sports first temperature controlled surface, with heating/cooling lines under the first 300 feet of race track to either heat or cool the surface as necessary. The direction of travel is now north-to-south as opposed to S-to-N originally. I sure wish they would hurry and reopen.
Beavertail, In 1961 I was a high school student with a passion for racing. There was a drag strip just a few miles from our home but I knew if I raced my '51 Chevy there my dad would probable hear about it. So I drove to another track about 30 miles away. It was a dirt track and closed a year later after being converted to a round track. I remember the name >STARLITE DRAG STRIP< and have not heard it mentioned in 50 years. So I went to your list and was sure it would not be listed. I WAS WRONG. Thanks for your efforts to list every drag strip ever operated in the USA 40 years ago or longer. You are well on your way to doing just that.
U. S. 30 Gary In. shut down Pics on internet Bunkerhill Drag strip NHRA opened 1956 still raceing U. S. 41 Morocco In. still runs Indy Race Way Park NHRA still raceing All these track were part of my Youth
Well the oldest drag strip in western Canada is Saskatchewan International Raceway !! This August 17-20th 2016 it will be celebrating it's 50th anniversary. The track is located about 8 miles south of Saskatoon Saskatchewan Canada and is the oldest continuously run 1/4 mile N.H.R.A. sanctioned track in western Canada. It was built in 1966 by a fellow named Les Howard which is the uncle of Nostalgia Funny Car Champion Jason Rupert. Jason Has been 2011,2012,2013 N.H.R.A heritage series N/FC champion and I.H.R.A. 2014 and 2015 N/FC champion . It is one of only 3 drag strips of this era left in all of Canada 2 of the tracks being in eastern Canada. S.I.R. was in the heyday of drag racing the gateway to drag racing royalty such as Canadians Bernie Fedderly, 240 Goddie Bonin, Graham Light, Terry Capps, Kenny Achs and many many others to see more check out the Canadian Motor Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Drag Racing Hall of Fame. Also many famous U.S. drag racers of the time. Being that S.I.R. is located right in the middle of Canada it made it easy for both west and east racers from Canada and south of the border to race there.
George Rays at Paragould Ark is still in Operation. Had the First Race,s of the Season yesterday. I didn't attend. pictures from last fall
I'm trying to find out more information about a couple of old Alabama strips for my Drag Strip List website. I know a little bit about Andalusia Dragway (ca. 1963-77), but would welcome more. Also would like more info about Big A Dragway (near Abbeville), Capital City Dragway (Montgomery), Carbon Hill Drag Strip, Chatom International Raceway, Clanton Drag Strip, Courtland Dragway, Dale County Dragway (Newton), Dixie Southland Drag Strip (Montgomery), Guntersville Drag Strip, Heart of Dixie Drag Strip (Sylacauga), Hi-Way 43 Drag Strip (Pritchard), Lee County Drag Strip (Opelika), Nauvoo Drag Strip, New Hope Drag Strip, Omaha Drag Strip, Piedmont Drag Strip, Randolph County Drag Strip (Wedowee), Sulligent Drag Strip, Tri-City Dragway (Florence), and Valley Airport (Lanett).
The couple of old drag strips I’ve been too have been Sacramento raceway and Famoso by Bakersfield. They are both old 1/4 mile strips out in the middle of nowhere. Both are similar with just an old tower and open pits and staging lanes. Used to go to Sacramento for car show/swap/race. Spent a lot more time in Famoso. Used to go there Friday nights after school for Grudge match/ run what you brung racing when in high school. Used to also go there in January for “Winter Warmups”. It was held a week before the winter nationals in Pomona. Most of the big NHRA teams would show up for test and tune their new stuff. I would go on Fridays, not a lot of spectators then. You could walk right up to the pits and talk to the drivers and get to check out all the cars. Got a lot of autographs that way too. Jake
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