History Old drag strips texas, name them

Cutahay field just outside Corpus if i remember right

 

I spent a large portion of my childhood at the Edinburg dragstrip.

One of my early memories is of shaking hands with Don Garlits there when his entire operation consisted of him and a mechanic with a Dodge truck/race car hauler.

 

I've got a stack of photos from the Edinburg strip....I'll dig them up and get them scanned and post them.

 

I heard about that field. I'm going to do a lot more digging.
Thanks for the info. By the way....I have lots of family in iowa...been
Through waterloo many of times.

 

Bucky Terry still lives in Cleburne Texas. And I remember his 41 Ford Pu with railroad track mounted in the bed and log chain securing the engine.He has pictures of this truck at Green Valley.Lots of memories from the 60s.Jerry Decker

 

Search Texas tracks,racers. Great thread with a ton of info! The Best Picture of Green Valley EVER! Lots more.
I am scratching my head about Irving dragstrip. Sounds like the private track built by Harringtons to test and tune their son's pro stocker (?). We don't need no stinkin' dyno!

 

I don't remember seeing any discussion about Cedar Creek. Been running forever, right? There should be some interesting pics out there.

 

Best three hours I've spent in front of this 'puter in some time. Thanks!

 

I got to see cuddihy field for my self.....it was so cool. i got to walk around the whole air strip...... http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=X&biw=1920&bih=936&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=h9twP1HKyuVtyM:&imgrefurl=http://www.flickr.com/photos/40436913%40N00/7014846083/&docid=gcF9-e5LkayC3M&itg=1&imgurl=http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6049/7014846083_7352f5d7e3_z.jpg&w=640&h=426&ei=XMkXUMj-HI6C8ATIuYGADw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=767&vpy=153&dur=89&hovh=183&hovw=275&tx=138&ty=70&sig=114759673146967248377&page=1&tbnh=134&tbnw=179&start=0&ndsp=47&ved=1t:429,r:4,s:0,i:87

 

Looking down the drag strip

 

whats left of the oval track (bank of turns 1 & 2)

 

Did by chance you meant "Cedar Hill"???

 

In the mid fifties drag racing was held on many abandoned military air bases in Texas. We ran at Caddo Mills, in Caddo Mills, at Martindale Field in San Antonio, Clear Springs in New Braunfels, Castroville Aux, Hondo Airbase, once at Laredo. Saw my first Go Karts at Martindale on the apron and decided that I needed one. We quite dragging in 1960 and sold the car. We ran enduro Karts at Wall, Green Valley, Clearsprings, Hondo, San Marcos AFB and at Seguin on an aux field of Randolf AFB. Most of the time we raced at Green Valley in the 60's. In 1955 the Kerrville Hot Rod Club ran two races at Fredericksburg on an old abandoned military training field. At that time I did Tech Inspection and got there early in the morning , there was a 40 Ford Sedan parked on the apron and a pair of big feet were sticking out from under the car. The owner was under there working on his clutch linkage. I kicked his foot and asked him if he was there to run and when he came out I could hardly contain myself as he looked huge to me, I was only 17. It was none other than the man, August (Hands) and at that time he ran a 40 Ford sedan. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

I think this is where the circle drag strip was in Dallas,right where southwell ends. Cant seem to find anything that looks like a strip in Irving. Any ideas where it was ?

 

It was Como, TX. It was called Midway Dragstrip. My dad raced there in the late 60's.

 

Cedar Creek Dragway is still up and running. In fact, the ad for it in the local motorsports paper simply reads, "Cedar Creek Is Open" It's actually a nice little joint. About 30 minutes east of Ennis on Texas FM85.

 

Hey Chainsaw, The Irving track,I spoke of, would have been just east of the intersection (in late 60s) of Beltline and Valley View. Things MAY have changed some since then, but there was a gravel road that turned south then east towards Story Rd. The track was south of that road, ran N - S in a corn field something like pictured in #312 above. Almost looked like a runway, because I do not remember anything else around it. Gary Byers remembers seeing cars run there and that it may have been called Sunset. I only heard about it being Bob Harrington's (and maybe Mark's) private "test facility".
Bill Neal says the Circle strip was off of Goodnight Lane and Joe Field Rd, right where you said it was. Took me a minute to figure how to zoom, move the page, and select the year on their site. Overlaying roads helped me find Southwell. Thanks for the kool old aerial connection. I even found the old kart track at 183 and Esters.
Forgive the delay in answering, I have been lost over in Drag cars in Motion. Finally worked my way thru page 331 of 1663.
Fugly, thanks for the info on Cedar Creek. Glad to hear they are still crankin'.
Mr. Wolcott do you have any pics of Custom Automotive? I bet there are a bunch of people who would love to see any of those. How about putting some up on Famous Texas tracks and Speed Shops. Don't forget pics of the T bucket. Thanks again for all your help and encouragement thru the years. At a quarter a question, I am sure I owe you a ton of dough.

 

Don't forget Latch S/W of Gilmer. It is actually still there but it is a driveway now. Back in the day it was a private airstrip. That is what the drive is called today...airstrip road. It's about 5 miles from my house. Dad has talked about all the others you mentioned. He used to class cars back in the day at Whitehouse and I-20...(mainly Whitehouse).

 

I remember the Golden Triangle Dragstrip Between Beaumnt and Nederland Tx It was crummy but fun to run

 

Home of Don Gay, his family owned the track . the one in Porter Tx. was called Eastex, it got eat up by Kingwood.

 

I am working on putting information together for the Houston International Speedway / Gulf Freeway Dragstrip:

www.HoustonFreewayDragstrip.com

I would love to see some pictures and 8mm video from the Houston track!!

Same to you if you don't mind!

 

Thanks to everyone for posting all of the great old drag strip information and photo's

I am in the process of trying to find as many old images from the drag strips as I can.

I want to recreate the original drag strip images for each one of these great drag strips so that they live on forever for others to remember and enjoy.

If anyone has any original photo's showing their names please share the photo's.

I always thought it was a shame when these tracks died because so many have such wonderful memories of the good old day's of racing there.

Keep the memories alive forever. Jimbo

 

I remember the down hill track!! It was my very first trip to a drag strip circa 1960. Went with my buddy and his older brother in a '55 Ford sedan with a tri-power 312 owned by a guy named Gene Hunt from Shreveport, La. Got beat in D/G but we ALL had a big time. Fastest cars were 1960 chevies w/ 348 tri-power engines and 4 speeds...ran 14s as I recall.....Also quick were the '61 Fords and 1960 Pontiacs, everyone had 3x2s, it seemed!!

 

Speaking of Hallsville, does anybody remember this car? Would have been run there with white body and red, orange, and yellow graphics. An old ProStock style scoop attached to the hood feeding a BBC with glide. Supposedly came out of the Memphis area and may have been in Vic Custer's shop or some other East Texas chassis shop at one time.

Guess that's a no.

 

Can anyone help me with the specific location of the dragstrip that was close to Tyler, TX.?

 

It was called I-20 dragway. Just trying to locate where it used to be.

 

Needle in a haystack time. I'm researching a car for a friend that was campaigned in Texas back in 1964. The car is a 64 Savoy Max Wedge Factory Lightweight. It was painted black and had a red interior and was delivered new to a dealership in San Antonio. I know there were dozens if not hundreds of dragstrips around back than, but this car would have been something pretty special. No driver info.

 

The car was most likely run at Eastex in the late 60's through the early 80's.

 

Anybody remember this car? Looking closely under the door it appears to say, "Sutton Motor Co". Also, below that it may possibly say Beaumont, Texas. Anyone remember the dealership for Sutton Motor Co?