built in the '50's

attempt to keep kids from street racing

wooden bleachers and chicken wire/chain link fence

no guard rails - first row of seats looked down onto asphalt

by 1972 speeds were over 220mph (last year open, Mickey Thompson owned and ran it)

my first visit - scared the living crap out of me - moved up 20 rows

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Cool pics!

Neat pictures. Is that ballast taped onto the front of the blown altered? That might not pass tech now.

yes, nothing in 1972 would pass tech now

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I used to go to Englishtown Raceway Park when I was a kid.  It was great seeing the noise of top fuel cars.  

Those who have been know what I mean.

It's the start of the decline of my hearing too.  

Damn, rip to that dude

Same at OCIR

for the final rounds the drunken/stoned crowd would edge right up to the starting line behind the cars

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Kenny Logan

he lived and raced again

lost both legs and use of one hand

I love drag racing. Unfortunately my local drag strip just went from 1/4 mile to 1/8th mile. I don't think I want to change my car to compete in the 1/8th at the expense of making it un-streetable.

Holy shit, that poor bastard.

When I was a kid my Dad would take me to Lions. That was late 60's early 70's. I think that's where my tinnitus started

Holy shit

I remember being right near the burnout box watching the race just feet from the cars.  It was the night my brother won a Dr. Pepper 10 speed Murray bike.    Fun times!

When I was a kid lived near San Fernando Drag Strip .
Saw Tony/Nancy and Mr. Cal Automotive .
My best friends uncle crashed there .

here ya to:
"One of the busiest dragstrips in the L.A. area was San Fernando-nicknamed "The Pond" (no one seems to really know why, except that it wasn't "The Beach"), which ran from 1955 to 1970. It ran uphill in a big paved lot next to a drainage ditch in a fairly populous area of the Valley. On Sundays, they weren't allowed to run open headers until after noon, in deference to nearby churches. Being the closest track to Burbank and Studio City, it was seen in nearly all the '50s hot rod B movies such as Dragstrip Girl and Dragstrip Riot, often with racers banging wheels, or even with a pack of cars racing off the end of the strip, through the hills of (sort of) nearby Griffith Park, then back to the start/finish line at the strip. Harry Hibler ran the track before he became publisher of HOT ROD, and a pre-HRM-staffer Dave Wallace sold programs at the gate (while his father flipped burgers in the concession stand). Common knowledge says this track was closed because of noise complaints from neighbors. But think about it: In 1970 tens of thousands of young men were in Vietnam, hot rods were being replaced by VW buses with flowers on them, and drag racing was turning Pro on big NHRA tracks. But here's the kicker. The Pond is still right there, ditch and all. There's a new Home Depot near the I-210 freeway at the end of the shutdown area, but the track itself, the pits, even the original food stand (with pictures of dragsters on the wall) are all still there, now used on weekends as a huge swap meet venue!"

I go by the old Aquasco Speedway couple times a week, once THE dragstrip east of the Mississippi.

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Yup, that's the King, Richard Petty.
Drag raced during Nascar strike.
Killed a kid spectator with that car.


Looking a little rough these days.

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Live close enough to MD International Raceway to FEEL it.

Big Daddy Don Garlits lost his foot in a clutch explosion at Lions, which turned into the driving force behind the rear-engine dragster.

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Lions was before my time.
But I have many fond memories of OCIR.

It looks like Atlanta Dragway is about done.  It doesn't have a lot of history, but it was where I saw my first NHRA race back when all the big tracks around here were IHRA.

https://www.racingjunk.com/news/atlanta-dragway-goes-up-on-the-auction-block/

My local track, MIR, now MDIR, is still IHRA.

Quickly ended his brief foray into the 1320 world

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Bump.
Cause it's both awesome and Biden- free.

Well.

Now its not.

Oh, man...no left leg below the knee...

When we went to visit my grandparents in CA in the '60s my father and I would go to Pomona or Fontana. Ohio drag racing was mainly doorslammers, which remain my first love.

But going to one of the CA strips and seeing a 32 or more Top Fuel show with all the cars I'd see in Hot Rod Magazine was awesome. Cars like the "Rain for Rent" special, "Jade Grenade", Tommy Ivo, "The Hawaiian", Greer-Black-Prudhomme, etc.

Just seeing them push start and hearing those cacklers fire up was fantastic.

this

My first visit there was just your average Sat night race, and the pits were full of famous cars and drivers.

First person I saw as I walked in was Danny On The Gas.

He just smiled, nodded, and walked on by.

I didn't understand how close the track was to the water.

So, by 11pm as the air got cooler and cooler, times started dropping into record territory.

Thought I'd died and gone to heaven.

Arrived in San Diego on a Wed. night.

bought a AAA map and my first Sat night in SoCal was at LIONS, BABY!!