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History Forgotten Dragstrip: Austin Raceway Park

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by TexasHardcore, Nov 25, 2009.

  1. TexasHardcore
    Joined: May 30, 2003
    Posts: 5,030

    TexasHardcore
    Member
    from Austin-ish

    Austin Raceway Park...from what I heard was a killer dragstrip on the north end of town, and from what photos I've seen was alive & well in the 60's & 70's. It's a personal gratification of mine to find the old dragstrips and see how they look now. After seeing satellite images of Austin Raceway Park over the past few years, I often found myself wondering if it was still there, or if is now part of a new housing subdivision, or if it has been plowed over and is a baseball field, the questions needed to be answered. Today, I was in that area for work, so on my lunch break I was on a mission to locate this ghost track and summon the spirits of nitromethane and the lost souls of the quarter mile.

    I succeeded. I found an access point at both ends of the track, and from what I see, the entire track is intact end to end. Aging and weathered asphalt with brush & trees coming up through the cracks, a mine field of dried cow patties, and the wind blowing down this dusty stretch of Texas drag racing history. It was kind of eerie. I swore I was having random images of dragsters & sounds of horsepower running through my head as I stood there. I couldn't help but imagine all of the hot rods, altereds, stockers, gassers, and dragsters that made their way down the worn asphalt I was standing on. It was kind of spiritual.

    I sure wish this track would re-open. It's saveable. It's surrounded by new commercial warehouses, open land, and one neighborhood a good distance away. It could happen, but I won't hold my breath.

    I took these photos with my phone, so they aren't the best, but I just wanted to share them...

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  2. TexasHardcore
    Joined: May 30, 2003
    Posts: 5,030

    TexasHardcore
    Member
    from Austin-ish

  3. TexasHardcore
    Joined: May 30, 2003
    Posts: 5,030

    TexasHardcore
    Member
    from Austin-ish

  4. Now we need pictures of the way it was back in the day. It does look like the earth is reclaiming it though. Would take a ton of capital to return it to it's former glory. We can always dream can't we.
     

  5. CJ Steak
    Joined: Sep 23, 2008
    Posts: 1,377

    CJ Steak
    Member
    from Texas

    Sadly Central Texas is in "yuppy" mode right now.

    Anything historical be damned. Developers are the ultimate evil to sites like this. They don't give a rat's ass.

    My dad leases a ranch from a couple of land developers to at least get some last ditch effort use out of it... and they're about to plow down a mid 1800's stage coach stop that's on it. Farm house, big barn with hayloft, carriage stables etc. Just to build another neighborhood of 90k slap together homes on tiny lots. They don't give a shit.

    -Chris
     
  6. TexasHardcore
    Joined: May 30, 2003
    Posts: 5,030

    TexasHardcore
    Member
    from Austin-ish

    Most of the old pics are already on the HAMB...I had not seen any recent pics of this track until I took them.

    Here's some old shots swiped from HAMBer 'Herdez'" site...

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  7. CJ Steak
    Joined: Sep 23, 2008
    Posts: 1,377

    CJ Steak
    Member
    from Texas

    Holy crap! That's just awesome.

    Even sadder now... looking at the pics and all...
     
  8. dino1
    Joined: Jun 20, 2009
    Posts: 28

    dino1
    Member
    from austin tx

    Where is that? Could you give a street addy?
     
  9. TexasHardcore
    Joined: May 30, 2003
    Posts: 5,030

    TexasHardcore
    Member
    from Austin-ish

    [​IMG]

    Find this...drive around to the back...you'll see it from the back parking lot.
     
  10. one37tudor
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 146

    one37tudor
    Member

    Do you know where that tower was originally located prior to moving it to the track?

    It was a part of the old Truck City 24 hour truck stop on Ben White near IH-35.

    Just thought I would throw that out there.

    Scott...
     
  11. Jeez... I wired a couple buildings back there a few years back... No Shit!!!!

    I lived 5 miles from there... it was the easiest commute to a jobsite that I ever had when living down there.
     
    Last edited: Nov 25, 2009
  12. Dirty30Dodge
    Joined: Jan 10, 2009
    Posts: 697

    Dirty30Dodge
    Member
    1. Upholstery

    Wow. I am dreaming to! Has anyone thought of a coop drag strip! Maybe There is enough action in Austin to do it! Find out how much the dirt is worth on a CAD site! How many other drag strips are in the area! The North Star Drag strip seems to be doing ok! The just had the Texas Nationals they are bringing back! It would take alot of work!
     
  13. TexasHardcore
    Joined: May 30, 2003
    Posts: 5,030

    TexasHardcore
    Member
    from Austin-ish

    Yeah I heard of the tower coming from the truck stop, and that it was an oil derrick before that...but where is it now? Probably turned into Hyundai. Does anyone know who owned A.R.P.?
     
  14. TexasHardcore
    Joined: May 30, 2003
    Posts: 5,030

    TexasHardcore
    Member
    from Austin-ish

    I'm down for a co-op dragstrip!
     
  15. D.W.
    Joined: Jun 5, 2004
    Posts: 2,070

    D.W.
    Member
    from Austin Tx.

    Back when I was in high school, (mid to late 80's) my buddies & I attended parties there.
    There was much less development in the area so we could get away w/ drinking, being loud, teenager shenannigans.

    We didn't know of it's history @ the time but we could tell that it had been a dragstrip.

    I remember we had to take a small dirt road to get to what I assume was part of the return road cause it was paved & it still had old tires lining the sides of it.

    The tower was gone by then.
     
  16. TexasHardcore
    Joined: May 30, 2003
    Posts: 5,030

    TexasHardcore
    Member
    from Austin-ish

    It wasn't just a dragstrip but an autocross course as well. So the "return road" for the dragstrip was the rest of the road course...atleast that's what I've gathered.

    [​IMG]
     
  17. RAY With
    Joined: Mar 15, 2009
    Posts: 3,132

    RAY With
    Member

    Texas H could you figure out if the warehouse was at the start or finish line? Some cool shots you took there. Thanks for posting all of this for us to see. Houston raceway park is also a vast area of brush and graded up race track now.
     
  18. HOT ROD BILL
    Joined: Apr 7, 2007
    Posts: 714

    HOT ROD BILL
    Member

    Some of us ran out there at nights somewhere around 70-71. If you were around The Holiday House on Burnet Road back then we would meet there or the Safeway across the street. We raced in front of IBM on 1325 for years at Summit School. At some point we started going out to ARP with a small group which got large real quick. Track was still in good shape and the snack bar was still there but the tower was gone, the road race part was the return road. Soon it became a Friday Nite event which brought all the roudy group having too much fun. A few reports of gunfire and underage drinkin and the fun was over. The property owner covered the track with truckloads of rocks every couple of 100 feet. I think sometime after that they used it to make and dry cinder blocks on, this track was very flat and smooth. Back then I had a gray primer 55 chevy, 292, solid cam, 780, 4 speed ect.
     
    Last edited: Nov 27, 2009
  19. TexasHardcore
    Joined: May 30, 2003
    Posts: 5,030

    TexasHardcore
    Member
    from Austin-ish

    RAY With...

    In the 2nd to last recent photo..the warehouse you see off to the left in the distance is the "Raceway Crossing" on Bratton Ln. on the east end of the track.

    In the last recent photo the warehouse is at the end of Quick Hill Ln. on the west end of the track.

    I don't know which direction they raced out there so I really don't know which end is which.
     
  20. RAY With
    Joined: Mar 15, 2009
    Posts: 3,132

    RAY With
    Member

    Thanks I never made it to that track but knew of it. I imagine one of the local readers will be able to figure it out. I was just curious.
     
  21. HOT ROD BILL
    Joined: Apr 7, 2007
    Posts: 714

    HOT ROD BILL
    Member

    The end of the track was 1325, sand pit right to the fence.
     
  22. TexasHardcore
    Joined: May 30, 2003
    Posts: 5,030

    TexasHardcore
    Member
    from Austin-ish

    Thanks Bill...thats what I figured.
     
  23. MR. FORD
    Joined: Aug 29, 2005
    Posts: 1,636

    MR. FORD
    Member
    from Austin, TX

    Thats so bad-ass........
     
  24. geemann51
    Joined: Dec 16, 2001
    Posts: 2,120

    geemann51
    Member

    wow, thats cool...
     
  25. ChevyRat
    Joined: Oct 12, 2007
    Posts: 575

    ChevyRat
    Member

    That's depressing seeing those pics. Great find on some drag racing history.
     
  26. I love old Drag strips! Some started out as old runways from WWII and now a few of them are land marks on sectional charts, I can find at least three here in the central valley on the SF chart.
     
  27. Austin Bubbletop
    Joined: Oct 5, 2009
    Posts: 56

    Austin Bubbletop
    Member
    from Austin, TX

    After hearing stories from my dad, we pulled off 1325 one night and found some pavement under the weeds. That was at least 15 years ago. That area, like most of this place is hardly recognizable. Thanks for the pics, both old and new. I will show these to my dad tomorrow. I can still remember him telling me he had a bill with South Austin Machine bigger than the National debt. lol I assume he met Hands and Butch at ARP.

    I also find it strange how impossible it is to have a successful drag strip in this area.
     
  28. Casey
    Joined: Nov 8, 2005
    Posts: 3,293

    Casey
    Member Emeritus

    It`s a dam shame to let a track go like that
    let`s all take a cruze out there and weed eat
     
  29. BELLM
    Joined: Nov 16, 2002
    Posts: 2,590

    BELLM
    Member

    I went there once back in the mid '60s, once, as a spectator. Don't remember much about it, long time ago. Do remember some serious cars and that it was a nice track.
     
  30. one37tudor
    Joined: Mar 3, 2001
    Posts: 146

    one37tudor
    Member

    The racing was slightly down hill or toward 1325.

    The track closed because (as per the American Statesman local newspaper) there was a dairy farm nearby and the owner was convinced that the racing on the weekends made his cows give less milk on Monday? At any rate he got an injunction that stopped the racing and it was fought for a while but for whatever reason the track never held Drag racing again although there were organized road racing there for years afterward.

    The tower was damaged in a storm and was actually removed before the track closed as I recall. The remains of the tower (a shorter version) was erected again at the Truck City Buda location where it was again storm damaged and removed.

    The track was built and owned at that time by Armstrong Johnson Ford (later Lief-Johnston Ford).

    Scott...
     

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