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Places I've raced that are gone now.
Toledo Dragway aka Glass City Dragway closed ~1967
Detroit Dragway closed 1998
Shelby County closed ~1980
Tucson Dragway closed ~1985
Beeline Dragway closed ~ 1976
Speedworld aka Mel Larson's closed 2013
Van Wert Dragstrip closed ~ 1975
Windsor Dragway closed 1971
Kettlersville closed ~ 1972
And finally one I don't remember the name. but it was some farmer who contracted to build a 1/4 mile track, but failed to allow for a shutdown area. Then they raced 1/5 mile and had about 200' of paved shutdown before you went into the gravel pit. I only raced there once.
Detroit Drag Way wasn't quite in Detroit but it was close. Closed down since, but I can remember going there as a young, young kid, watching my day race. Brownstown Michigan, at the corner of Sibley and Dix.
This post by Panuuz made me think that we should begin a thread, listing the location, name, and time-frame that old-but-not forgotten / abandoned drag-strips operated, while some of us remember them and know where they were located.
When I raced during the early-'90s in S.W. Taxylvaniastan, Eastern Ohio and West-by-Gawd Virjinnie, I befriended a guy who won the last day that Pittsburgh International Dragway was open in 1976:
after being rained-out one day in '92, he took me to show where the track was located, and although we took no-pictures, he explained the general layout of the facility.
Here are a few pictures from PID that I have found on-line:
At the time, we were competing weekly at Fairmont Dragway (formerly an IHRA track, Eldora Dragway ), in West Virginia, an 1/8-mile strip which closed following the '99 season, and has since been converted into an industrial complex:
when my fiancee & I went there in '04, there was no-trace of the strip at-all, but I found an on-line picture, taken from the water-box in it's later years -
I am now in central Floriduh, and would like any help in finding the location of the drag-strip in Lake Wales (due-East of Tampa, and almost due-South of Orlando ), where Don & Pat Garlits attended their first-ever drag-race while dating, and Large Father made his initial runs, as-well-as any other drag-strips between Tampa & Orlando.
Jungle Jim's long time girlfriend Pam Hardy Is a friend on the family
Her brother Tom is married to my niece If you recall she was always
on the track guiding him back after his burn out
He was killed in a car crash about 7 miles from where we live
03-06-2015, 07:21 PM
