Minnesota Dragways Memorabilia

[hotrodchev]

For anyone interested, I just created a Minnesota Dragways Memorabilia page viewable at this link:
http://community.webshots.com/album/134731564cfmeeq

I've been actively documenting, researching, collecting and preserving memorabilia from Minnesota's drag racing past over the last several years. I am always interested in purchasing new items and/or looking for contributions to add to the ever-growing database. Feel free to contact me if you have items to share or are looking for a specific car or any other information.

Enjoy!

Tim
"Hotrodchev"

[Belair62]

Cool stuff............

[Fhakya]

That is a pretty neat collection Tim. I was too young to ever get to see the strip function. I never did hear the reasons behind it's demise though. Anyone know what shut down MN Dragway?

-Mark Holman

[SS427]

People! Simply put, it was a combination of the locals complaining about noise and land development. Same thing that has closed most.

[Chevy454]

That sucks. But the ballbuster is that a lot of the tracks started life out in the middle of nowhere, but as the land around the tracks was developed those new resident's expect the track to close. IMO, they knew the track was there when they moved in, so they should live with it. But unfortunately, the track(s) usually lose this battle... If I'm not mistaken, a couple of the So-Cal tracks went down like this?

[Mr70]

At Oswego Il. Raceway,that built Subdivisions all around it,and turned the track into a Tree Nursery.They left the 1/4 mile + strip of asphalt alone,and use it as a holding pen for saplings.Aside from the close proximity housing,if you removed the thousands of saplings,you could race your car down it still today.

[Chevy454]

MoKan Dragway on the Missouri/Kansas border...been around longer than I have, nothing around for miles and miles. But, that turned out to be it's downfall. A wealthy individual bought the land surrounding the track, but wondered why their weren't any ducks for him to hunt on the property. Gotta be the track's fault, right? So he's tried injunction after injunction and has been dragging it in/out of court for several years now, virtually sucking the track's finances dry. Cross your fingers, the judge is ruling as we speak...

[Jeff Murphy]

Riverside is now condos. That was the best track in the western US save Laguna. At least Laguna is on a huge military reserve, so there won't be a lot of condos. We lost Westwood in Vancouver the same way. Cool little track with a lot of elevation change. Ran everything from Porsche 935s to Formula Atlantic cars there.

[Pantera]

Warbonnet roadrace track here in Okla is now a moble home development. The race surface is the main street there. I think the owner defaulted on it and it was sold and developed. Sure was a shame as it was a fun place except for the last turn onto the front straight. It would make you pucker.

Hallett is out in the country and just a few years ago they finally did pave the road to it. The owner (Toly Artunoff)is a very rich Tulsan (at times) that his daddy developed the downhole oil well pump (Retta pump)and holds the patent on it. I don't see it being sold off and developed. But you never know. I know one thing it is one of the most fun and safe roadrace tracks that I have raced on.

Now I hear that Tulsa's Dragstrip is doing a major rebuild (ala TWS) and will have a Oval and a roadrace track incorporated into it. It may be safe from residental development, since it is out in the country next to a rock quary.

Perhaps Rob should plan on having the SCR8 at Tulsa as it seems that it never rains here much anymore. We sure have a huge building to house the car show in.

[hotrodchev]

Minnesota Dragways survived from 1958 to 1976. It pretty much met it's demise due to people, residential development and a new golf course next door. Yamaha, purchased the track and used it as a testing facility for many years until it was sold again and finally developed into a residential community within the past few years. Twin City Speedway (a.k.a. North Star Drag Strip) survived from 1957 to 1979. The property sat vacant for many years, but survives today as an industrial park and another "bleeding" golf course. The good news is, at present there are two very dedicated individuals who are working tirelessly to try and resurrect the Minnesota Dragways name and build a new state-of-the-art, NHRA certified track within an hours drive of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) area. Anyone interested in reading more about their progress can visit their website at www.minnesotadragways.com
Tim
"Hotrodchev"