Here one for you Pennsylvania guys. Pocono Drag Lodge. Looks like a really cool old track that I have to visit one of these days. Closed in the early 70's, I think, and still pretty much all there more or less. Lots of info out there on this one. And that's it for today. Please post up pics or stories on any of these if you have them. Kevin
AWESOME shots!! Why is the pavement in such good shape?? What's it used for now??? It's cool that you were able to stage a faux race for your shots!!! Congrat and thanks for sharing
I had looked at this on google before and wasnt real sure if this was it. Thanks for putting all this up. As far as when it opened, I have seen pics IIRC in 1961. Also Kettlersville was a 1/5 mile. I had a cousin that ran there quite a bit in the mid-sixties. Was always told the shut down was like a roller coaster.
closed Kentucky Dragstrips: Bluegrass Dragway, Lexington Campbellsville Dragway, Campbellsville Cedar Creek Drag Strips, Mt. Washington McCracken Co Drag Strip River City, Ashland Richmond Dragway, Richmond Somerset Dragway, Somerset Sturgis Dragway, Sturgis Tompkinsville Drag Strip Otter Lake Drag Strip, Madisonville
River City, Ashland Here's a picture of me and my willys in the pits at River Cities Raceway Park in 1986. I still have the jacket they gave to racers who made the team to go to the Bracket Finals that year.
You aren't talking about the old 1/8 mile at Silva, NC are you. We went there many times, it was next to the river. The stopping distance was so short that they actually ran 600' toward the last with the faster cars showing up. I saw Platt spin his 68 1/2 Mustang CJ around at the end of the pavement, he didn't realize that they had taken the fence down and you could go on into a flat pasture at the end if you couldn't get stopped.
post 397 sounds a lot like cherokee race way in N.C if it is i have been looking for pics of it taken in the late 60s. we won a few coins there against some big name drivers. platt was suppose to show but didnt. ended in a corn field beside a river.
Was HRP located past Barber's Point? I was stationed at Pearl in late '60s and used to go to a strip out that way. I was thinking about it lately wondering if it was still in operation as a friend was headed to HI on business and it appears that area is now all built up like Waikiki. I cudn't remember the name of the strip to have him check it out. I guess if HRP is the same one, they did well to last until 2006!
I think that is the same dragstrip , it was between Sylva and Cherrokee N.C. close to the river , I won 10sec. eliminator one sunday in 1971 in a 59 ford, the guy i was racing missed a shift. i was 16 yrs. old, i've been trying to get some old 8mm movies my cousin said he had to copy to VHS or DVD for jughead2
I'm happy to report the 75-80 Dragway reopened in the spring of '09 with racing on Friday and Saturday nites. Drove my first drag race there in early to mid '60s. www.75-80Dragway.com
Hawaii Raceway Park is the one you are talking about, just past Barbers Point. It was closed about 5 years ago, supposedly because an industrial park was to be built there. It still sits vacant and we no longer have a track on Oahu. Those from here who want to race have to go to Maui, the Big Island or Kauai.
one meet i am particularly interested in at cherokee was paying 5 places and winner got to run all the other winners and could take home all the marbles if good enough. at that time there was a crippled gentleman running it. i had first place in the bag and just basically screwed up against a 68? hemi cuda called the thumper. robert nance of ringgold Ga. got 4th. i won 3rd by putting the thumper on the trailer i guess to show him i could. my screw up cost me 200 bucks that day a lot of money in 68.
I not only heard of it I was the anouncer in the tower the first year it opened under that name . Lots of good times there..
Back when the track was in opperation we used to go up there often. I had a '70 Fairlane (9sec), my budies had '65 red fastback (8sec) and a '66 black fastback (7sec) mustangs and we also had a few Chevys in the bunch. We were there for a two day show once and camped out there. I won my bracket and got some polish, a quart of oil, a can of STP and $7.00 if I remember right. I redlighted to a slower car in eliminations. Do you remember a Chevell called "Thumper" and an orange Dart?
I drove by the old Vacaville strip the other day, they still haven't built anything there. They ground up and salvaged the asphalt & rock a couple years ago after I drove around on it, You could plainly see it from the overpass after they scraped the overgrown grass off it before the grinding. if you know where to look, you can see where the grass grew back different in the outline of the track
The old Shelton, Washington drag strip is now being revived by a private owner. Different piece of land close to the original site. Another Z-Max style 4-Lane 1/4 mile. The clearing is done, all ground work mostly done, and all the permits and paper in order. Its not a dream. Its great to know it can still happen in smalltown USA.
I remember a blue 69 chevelle that was bad ,maybe a 396-375 but don,t don't remember if it was called Thumper, i do remember a 65 or 66 mustang called Little Green Giant and Chick Jones burgundy 55 Chevy,
In Los Angeles, CA, approx April/May of 1979 a dragstrip was closed, anybody remember the name of it?? cheers
This is what Onondaga Drag Way looks like today.There's a township meeting Thrusday May 26 2011 to open it back up..
Was close to VanWert/ Wayne Trail Dragway and took these pics. The fence at the start end of the strip is about all thats left.
Well. OK... That's more than a bit depressing. But thanks for posting these anyway. It's been quite a few years since I've stopped by the old track but at that time the tower was still standing and there were remnants of the old bleacher seating here and there. But even at that time a lot of the track surface had been torn up and farmed over. It's hard to tell from the aerial shot but the track was originally built as a quarter mile. But it didn't take them long to realize that the run-off was just too short for the faster cars. By the time we raced there it was strictly an eighth mile track but with a long shut down. With our car we could practically coast after the finish line and make the farthest turn off. May have to drive by there again if I ever decide to head over to Van Wert for a meal at Balyeat's Coffee Shop, or if Kennedy Tool Box ever has another of their parking lot "scratch & dent" sales.
I remember the Mustang, the Chevelle I was talking about was a '66-67 if I remember right. I ask some of my buddies when I get home this weekend.
How sad indeed, 21 pages of closed drag strips, I wounder how many pages of closed baseball or football stadiums there would be. Why are we the loosers? Our hobby is just as important to us as other sports to other people.
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