I am working on a very coolproject and I need History info on the following strips. If you have other strips that are no longer around wtih breif bio info, chime in. hope you guys can help me!! Albie American Rebel Riverside 1959 Palmdale 1964 Colton Morrow Field 1956 Saugus Dragway 1951 Vargo Dragway Paradise dragstrip George Ray Wildcat dragstrip 1961 Tri city Dragway Dover dragstrip Detroit dragway 1959 Fontana Drag City 1965 Motor City Dragway 1957 San fernando raceway "the Pond" 1955 Kellog Field 1955 San gabriel 1956 Fresno 1956 Kings dragstrip 1958
New York National Speedway,Center Moriches ,N.Y. on Long Island. It closed in the late 70's or early 80's.
Tri city Dragway 1978 Tri-City Dragway in Saginaw was open from 1966 to 1978, closed same year as Onondaga! Im working on the location. An excerpt borrowed from the message board about Tri-City: "Dont remember exact operating date spread, but the track DID NOT close due to airport expansion. Track operator so angered local sportman racers they boycotted track. Place was owned by millionaire car dealer. As a "get even" track manager wandered the track with a post-hole digger forever destroying the surface when place closed. One of the countrys most beautiful tracks, strange management. Unfortunate end....John Lundberg" <HR style="COLOR: #660000">http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/drags.asp?id=1337&type=6 ---------------------------------------------------
This was the Nirvana of our area.... http://www.sundayniagara.com/forum/portal.php This site has one of the radio commercials about half way down the page.... http://wkbwradio.com/site/niagara/index.htm writing a book ?? good luck. I have a bunch of slides from there that I keep saying I will scan one of these winters..
I think this has been covered in several threads but there's Green Valley/DFW, Sand Valley/Central Oklahoma, Cherokee Dragway/Frederick, OK., Victory Field/Vernon, Tx., Caddo Mills, Central Tx. Larry T
thanks guys..big help...i will be letting you all know more about the project in the months to come. Alb
DesMoines Dragway http://www.desmoinesdragway.com/ click on the history tab. Hope this helps. Cob Classifieds Moderator
Not sure how much you need to know, but: Riverside was the straightaway for a road course, sometimes ran 1/2 mile under SCTA, closed in '70's, now covered with houses. Colton was a fairly short track, if you ran off the end you went up a hill and over it, into a cemetary (happened to me once)...land is still there, track closed in '70s Saugus was on the site of the S King airstrip, near Newhall, opened around '51, closed in '56 when the airport owner sold the field, now covered with houses, nothing remains of the track...Saugus was one of the first strips to hold night drags, with a giant searchlight pointing down the track...Lou Baney ran Saugus, and a lot of lakes guys stopped off to run it on their way home from El Mirage. Fontana opened around '60, was west of Fontana right on Route 66, I remember that the shutoff was not well lit during night races. There were actually two San Gabriel's -- one near Arrow Highway that closed in late '50s and another that opened nearby...closed in early '60s, and later Irwindale opened not far away. San Fernando opened around '56, was right next to the San Fernando airport...shutoff ran under a bridge that Foothill Blvd ran over, several fatalities when guys hit the bridge abutment...houses right next to the track, so competition cars could only run between 12-3:00...finally the noise complaints closed the track...Harry Hibler ran it, and was one of the good managers, always slipped you a few bucks if he knew you were broke... Fresno was actually near Raisin City, great track, well managed...there is another thread here on it, with pictures of it now...closed a long time ago. All these tracks were the lifeblood of drag racing, and those of us who ran there still miss them.
Here's a couple of related links i've bookmarked. http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewAlbums&friendID=206591611 http://www.dragcityracecars.com/Ghost_Tracks.php
I went to Rasin City many times and raced an A Altered T roadster owned by Joey Alves and we used my 23 T roadster pick-up as a push car. We'd come out of the top end and fire the roadster heading to the line, turn around and make a burn out then make our timing run or race. The car tirned a 10.56 ET 158 MPH the first day I drove it in 1965. Hilborne injected SBC w/ a 2 speed LaSalle trans. I'd love to see any photos if anyone has some of the altered and the push car. Dave Rocha
The Jalopy Journal
