old-but-not forgotten drag-strips
#61
Drifting
#62
Race Director
Member Since: Sep 2007
Location: Peoria/Phoenix AZ
Posts: 16,555
Received 2,061 Likes
on
1,505 Posts
C6 of Year Finalist (performance mods) 2019
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.
Here's a couple sites for more info and pics.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...YoBiokS4&msa=0
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lost-...26629034080783
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...68834&page=all
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.
Here's a couple sites for more info and pics.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...YoBiokS4&msa=0
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lost-...26629034080783
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...68834&page=all
#63
Race Director
Thread Starter
#64
Detroit Drag Way
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.
#65
Melting Slicks
Member Since: Jul 2007
Location: Newtown Square Pa.
Posts: 2,512
Likes: 0
Received 5 Likes
on
4 Posts
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.
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.
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