Pretty cool thread about old dragstrips

[S2V6RACER]

I remember my dad talking about Tri-City dragway, Detriot, and Motor city.

ABANDONED DRAG STRIPS......With Photos - Yellow Bullet Forums

 

[fighterjet gn]

i remember the 1st track i went to was the US 30 outside gary ind. 1970.

 

[Grumpy]

might be more abandon drag strips coming up after this great year

 

[jdpolzin]

First strp I ever went to was Cordova back in about 85. Tracks still there up and roaring. I remeber my step dad let me have a drink of his beer. First time I ever tasted it. I thought it tasted horrible. I was only about 4 but i remember it plain as day. Hopefully it stays around. Times are tough and people arent racing as much as they used to.

 

[86george]

I went to us 30 in 1970 on regular basis.Ran a 1955 chevy 327 4spd on 7in recap cheater slicks.Also went to Oswego.Had a lot of fun a both tracks.Both closed since early 80s.

 

[Bens87tr]

Thanks for the link. I love looking at stuff like that, even though it's a sad in a way.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

I see CT dragway was on that thread. So close and I never raced there BUT did attend quite a few races. Wish it was still open.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

I talked w/ Brett Kepner, and Todd Silvey, [the editor/publisher of Drag News, about the program to make a strip registry. They got GPS locations of many of the old tracks. I sent Todd and Brett emails about some old 8mm film I had, about midwest tracks. I offered them copies, never heard back...
At the time, I think Brett said they had found 1300 tracks.. some still there, some long gone.

 

[turbofrank]

68 Roadrunner Aquasco Speedway Md

 

[Audie1]

i remember the 1st track i went to was the US 30 outside gary ind. 1970.

..........I was born and raised in that Rat Hole for about 15 years.....Gary, IN

I did have an 1/8 mile strip close to me (Cooper River Drag Strip), they shut down and sold the land to "Google" to build some kinda company or what not. They were hiring a while back for IT folks and other computer related positions. This was a couple of years back. This is in SC, Charleston Area. They (Google) is even building a subdivision for their employees to live in! They take care of their employees, unlike so many other Employers.

 

[fighterjet gn]

86GEORGE & Audie 1, at the US30, do you guys remember a gold colored camaro : "WE HAUL" . it ran super stock in the 12's back then, i used to love that car.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Going waaaay..

86GEORGE & Audie 1, at the US30, do you guys remember a gold colored camaro : "WE HAUL" . it ran super stock in the 12's back then, i used to love that car.

back:
We raced T/F and A/A, at the "Grove", US30, Cordova, Rockford, Alton, Il. All in the 60's, when sex was safe, and racing was dangerous!!
Some of the more notorious cars were "The big noise from Winetka", a 57 Chevy gasser, "U HAUL? We HAUL 2", another Chevy gasser. Also, in that gasser group was Palmer Lazeris, and his 56 Chevy gasser. And, 1 of the most "notorious": Mike Marinoff, in the HALL Chevrolet, 55 B/GS car. [Now, this guy was a true "piece of work"!!]
Lots of the old rail guys, Gordon Collett, Sid Sealy, Chris the Greek, Connie Kalitta, Sneaky Pete Robinson. All guys that left thier mark on the sport!
The hilite of the yr were always the "World Series @ Cordova, and a trip to Indy, to race my bud's A/SR.

It was REAL FUN! Not like the crap NHRA puts on the tube, these days...:frown:

Maybe, "oldtimers"disease isn't so bad, afterall. I can remember fun times 55 yrs ago, and little/nothing of what went on yesterday!!!

 

[TurboJoe3.8]

Used to race at (Meander) Youngstown Drag City in the late 70's and early 80's.

All the big names used to stop there, Sox & Martin, Grumpy Jenkins, Dyno Don Nicholson, Fast Eddie Schartman, Akron Arlen Vanke, Kalitta, Mulldonney, etc., Big Daddy Don's crew chief, the late Herb Parks was from Youngstown and they would frequently stop for layovers between big races in Y-town, used to see them around town all the time.

Those were the days- had a blast out at that track! :biggrin:

Was sorry to see it close. :frown:

 

[fighterjet gn]

back:
We raced T/F and A/A, at the "Grove", US30, Cordova, Rockford, Alton, Il. All in the 60's, when sex was safe, and racing was dangerous!!
Some of the more notorious cars were "The big noise from Winetka", a 57 Chevy gasser, "U HAUL? We HAUL 2", another Chevy gasser. Also, in that gasser group was Palmer Lazeris, and his 56 Chevy gasser. And, 1 of the most "notorious": Mike Marinoff, in the HALL Chevrolet, 55 B/GS car. [Now, this guy was a true "piece of work"!!]
Lots of the old rail guys, Gordon Collett, Sid Sealy, Chris the Greek, Connie Kalitta, Sneaky Pete Robinson. All guys that left thier mark on the sport!
The hilite of the yr were always the "World Series @ Cordova, and a trip to Indy, to race my bud's A/SR.

It was REAL FUN! Not like the crap NHRA puts on the tube, these days...:frown:

Maybe, "oldtimers"disease isn't so bad, afterall. I can remember fun times 55 yrs ago, and little/nothing of what went on yesterday!!!

broadway bob at the grove would put on this show called "the olympics of drag racing ", that was fun. speaking of gassers, STONE, WOODS & COOKE, and OHIO GEORGE MONTGOMERY , was some tuff guys too. i hated it when US30 closed, i started racing at the grove & US41, but the memories will last.

 

[turbofish38]

Back when I was kid, sometime around 1965 until it was sold off in 1969 I used to go to a track that was about 10 minutes from the house. The place was called Cornhusker Dragway and was at the intersection of 144th St and Giles road in the southwest area of Omaha. It was bought out by a concrete company that used it for storage and manufacture of conrete blocks and other brick products. I did an aerial view on Mapquest and came up with this pic hoping it would still show the concrete lanes. They are probably hiding under the stacks of bricks in this pic. Map of 14305 Giles Rd Omaha, NE by MapQuest
IIRC the strip ran adjacent to Giles Rd and was close to the property line in the southeast corner of the lot.
I'm sure the authors of that book know about this place. All I remember is that you were able to sit about 10 feet away from the tracks edge and watch the TopFuelers scream by at 200MPH.

 

[86george]

86GEORGE & Audie 1, at the US30, do you guys remember a gold colored camaro : "WE HAUL" . it ran super stock in the 12's back then, i used to love that car.

I remember the WE HAUL camaro.A camaro with WE HAUL on it ran at Osceola Dragway in 07.We were there for the Midwest Buick Challenge.They claimed it was the original WE HAUL car.Do you remember MR 56.Green and white ratty 56 chevy.Ratty but fast with a big block.It sat in the mans yard here in Kankakee for years.We went to us 30 on wed. nights to watch the Gassers and early funny cars run.Stone Woods & Cook were my favorites.Ohio George Montgomery was another favorite. I remember those supper stocks with big blocks 2 4 barrels running mid 12s.That was very fast in those days. George