Do any of you guys from Colorado remember the drag strip east of Colorado Springs in the early 60's ? It was east on highway 24 past Sportsman Raceway Park as the highway turned towards the town of Falcon. The story I was given was that it was built in a flood plain and one year it flooded and got covered with sand, that and money problems closed it down. In about 1963 it flooded again and washed the sand off. I remember that in 1964/65 someone would open the gate on Sunday and someone would come up with a flag , from that point it was run what you brung! Every once in awhile a Sheriffs car would pull up and watch from the highway.
That dragstrip closed in April of 1965. I believe that the Pikes Peak Timing Assoc. ran it for awhile, which my father in law was a part of. That area is now an industrial park full of warehouses and businesses. As of a few years ago the strip asphalt was still visible, we always went 4wheeling on those sand hills next to the highway... Hope this helps.
I've seen whats left of it out there, but too young for it as i wasn't born till 79. I guess i could have been seeing the remains of the 1/8mile oval that was out there too. Wish we still had a strip in town.
That would have been Sportsmans, it was suppose to be a quarter mile track. We raced a 56' Ford with a 312 there in 64'. Towed it with a chain behind a 49' caddy 2 door sedan. Good times !
The track wasn't sanctioned. They were just a bunch of guys wanting to race. Said they couldn't keep up with land payments. They were assisted by a business group in town. Another friend here helping with a 40 merc convertible raced at sportsman from 64-67 then raced for pat smith into the 70s his name is Don Justice. What's your name ? He was wondering!! Posted from the TJJ App for iPhone & iPad
I was just the go-fer and pit crew. Larry Retalic[ spelling/bad memory ] was the driver. His dad owned Gene's Aquarium and sponsored the car. He was my neighber and between us we knew dittle but learned a lot. It's my understanding that later he raced at Pikes Peak Speedway and was more sucessful. I moved to Iowa , started in Figure-8's, moved to Street Stocks and then to Late Models.
I know it was opened back up for a while in the later 70's as an 1/8th mile. It didn't stay open for much longer with two open tracks in Denver and the one in Pueblo. A friend of mine match raced his Jolly Rancher sponsored nitro funny car there against I think Dan Lexa.
There's confusion on 2 different dragstrips being discussed here. The OP was refering to a strip right off hiway 24 that is long gone after the 1960s. The other strip (1/8 mile) was part of Colo. Spr. Intl. Speedway complex a few miles south of hiway 24 and just off of hiway 94. It was built new in the mid 70s and ran aprox. thru the 80s. C.S.I.S.:
The Jalopy Journal
