Bruton Smith, Nascar promoter/mulitiple track owner was on Wind Tunnel tonight, with Dave Despain. He claims they are building a 4 lane wide dragstrip at Lowes Motor Speedway. Anyone else hear of this? This concept is not new. About '65 or '66 at St. Louis International Raceway I witnessed a race that was promoted (As I recall) as the pony car shootout. Best I remember it was 2 Mustangs and 2 Camaros, side by side. I wish I had that picture. Did anyone else see that race or see one similar at another track?
I was at Half Moon Bay once when they had a LeMans start, two Super Stockers at the end of the staging lanes. Drivers had to run from the timing tower, jump in, fire them off, and make a 90 degree left turn to the strip. Luckly no one was killed or even hurt. Machanichan decided imeditaly that they would not do thay again
if you look at alot of tracks that the pros race at their about 4 lanes wide even though they only mark the middle
lots of dragstrip ran 4wide in the 60's up into early 70's newyork national speedway on longisland i remember but it was mostly for the stock cl***es
Somewhere in the drag racing monster thread there is a photo of four cars going at once. Jenkins, Sox, ??????
They're probably side by side with a barrier down the middle so that oil-downs can be cleaned on one side while the action continues on the other. Bruton's all about the fans, and repeated cleanups put a damper on the action when it's getting hot and heavy. I won't spend any real money on a drag racing ticket, cause I'm not willing to sit in stands for 10 hours to watch 6 hours of racing and 4 hours of cleanup. I watched some vintage racing at goodguys indy a few years back and saw like 3 runs in 2 hours, gave up and went home. Bruton's onto something. The hard part of dragstrip layout is length, that little extra width ain't much for the builder but would be a TON for the fans.
Blackie Gejeian had four abreast fuelers in California in the 60's. Fontana had four abreast jets (see Royalshifters thread, "drag cars in motion" for photos) Nobodys ever going to top that
Dads first time at Minnesota Dragways had so many cars in the Stock cl***es that they ran 4 at a time until the 1/4 finals.
If it's true it should be pretty cool. I live about ten minutes from there and they should be finished in September. I know John Force was here because the grandstands were dedicated to him a couple weeks ago.
Shifty Shifterton is right. Bruton's new track at Lowe's Motor Speedway will have 4 lanes but they will only run two cars at a time. The first NHRA event will be held September 11-14. You can check out NHRA.com for more info and build-up shots of this state-of-the-art facility.
According to the Buddy half of Sox & Martin, this race was in at York Pa. some time in 1969. He can't remember when or who won! Anyone else? Gary
I live near the speedway and it is in fact gonna be a 4 lane strip, so if the the fuel cars grease it up they can run the other 2 lanes to keep the action going. In the next few years this will be the norm if you want to host a NHRA event.. Google it.......
dragway 42 also used to be 4 lane. Yes the same dragway 42 as the rock and race in july EVERYONE needs to get their ***es out here for that show. KILLER TIME
******* Ford, thanks for the great picture! I never knew that existed. Four legends in one shot! I guess it happened more than I imagined.
Dragwat42 used to run the fast or pro cars on the pit side of guard rail and run slower orstock cl***es on spectator side from 1958 until the mid 60s Then rules and people changed . Used to be one hell of a show Does anyone remember the oldStroh's Beer nationals held there? They used to bring a refrigerated 40ft. beer truck and park it in the pits, hand out cups and you could have all your body could hold. It was a great show but there were alot of anebriated spectators by 2 or 3 in the afternoon
I was at Rasin City when they ran those 4 TF/FED's, unbelievable! Somewhere I've seen a picture of it. If I remember right, all 4 cars ran about the same speed and ET's.
I made my first ever p*** down a drag strip in 1960 in my Dad's El Camino at Pomona. Lined up nearly door handle to door handle, 4 wide. I was scared ****less. Many Sundays Pomona ran stockers 4 wide because there were so damned many of 'em.
I live just down the street (country-road wise) from the old Raisin City Dragstrip... since turned into a landing strip for crop dusters, and the pit and spectator areas have slowly turned into nothin' more than an almond orchard (soooo sad..sniff-sniff). Being from Minnesota back in the 60's and 70's, of course I'd never heard of Raisin City (I hung out at Northstar and Minnesota Dragways), yet when I got stationed (USAF) out here in Central Cali back in the early 80's and was driving back and forth to Famoso and Sacto Raceway, I learned from alot of the "more seasoned" racers that there used to be a 4 car dragway in Fresno. Jump forward 17 years to the late 90's, and I married a girl whose father leased a second ranch almost next door to the old Raisin City. My introduction to Raisin City was, one day heading out to the second ranch, my father-in-law (who has since p***ed) pulled his truck over to the side of the road across the road from the white fence, and asked if I knew what was behind that fence... needless to say I pee'd my coveralls. He once told me that rumor had it that the old guy that bought the property after the strip was shut down, was not a drag fan, and purposely started planting trees and building outbuildings so the track could never be re-opened (that %&#$ old *******). Believe it or not the timing tower is still there, as is the trademark white fence, and of course the original asphalt. The most recent rumor I've dug up is that the place is now a "lease" property, and if the right dollars came along I'd bet the place could be at least be removed of its trees, etc., touched up, and perhaps presented to the county as a viable site for occ***ional nostalgia drags. I may not be in the money, but I'm doing my best to gather somewhat of a bandwagon. Never say never.
The Jalopy Journal
