HISTORY

Early in 1962 the track and its operating licenses were purchased by none other than Mr. Henry Henderson, the farmer who’s land the original service road was paved to access. Concurrent with the drag racing trend, the popularity of sports car racing was also growing; Mr. Henderson, while not overtly a car enthusiast, was a shrewd businessman who saw the potential in a greatly expanded track, and he rounded up a bevy of investors who saw the same potential. As he already owned the majority of the land surrounding the track, he elected to embark on an expansion to turn the quarter mile strip into a road course, planning to cater to both sports car and drag racing enthusiasts.

The architects hired to build the new track were tasked with keeping the original quarter-mile section in-tact, and throughout most of the construction the drag strip remained in operation. By the summer of 1964 the new larger track was opened to the public, and to keep the drag racing crowd coming-and to avoid confusion-the course was simply given the name Drag City Raceway. By this time California’s postwar population explosion was in full swing and highway 80 had become Interstate 8, making the track relatively easy to reach. The dual-purpose track was a smashing success, with most road racing being limited to small bore sports cars, although at times larger and faster cars raced there as well.

Throughout the decade the attendance at the track soared and businesses poured into the area, many vying for space on the track grounds. The little Shake Shack kiosk was gone; in its place was now a full diner, which was already serving by early in 1966 (the diner would be relocated in 1971 due to both a need for more parking and for safety reasons). The Chevron station remained, but its secondary service bays became the initial pits for the new track until they were moved in 1967, at which point the dual service bays became a new business called The Outlaw Garage that specialized in racing car tuning right next to the track. Another nearby business, the Superior Bakery, eventually closed, in part due to the crowds and noise; the track organization bought the building it had once occupied and razed it for more parking.

By the close of the 1960’s sport car racing had changed; the cars were becoming faster and faster all the time, and the popularity of small bore racing began to subside in favor of the high-horsepower cars seen at LeMans and other famous tracks in Europe. Due to the ready availability of land, an initiative was launched to dramatically expand the track in order to attract more professional big-dollar competitors. Ground was broken in the fall of 1966, but the new track was not ready to be opened until early in 1970.

The design chosen for the 2^nd version of Drag City was controversial even at the time; built almost entirely of concrete and setup with two challenging “corkscrew” turns, one right bank incline and the other a left bank decline, the track’s most unusual feature was an elevated section featuring two steeply banked turns, supported by a series of 2 story tall concrete pillars; it was finished by the long straightaway encompassing the section used for drag racing, which was coated with asphalt. The track caused a sensation upon opening as spectators flocked to see some of the world’s fastest cars negotiate these dangerous and unorthodox turns. The spectators got their money’s worth: the racing was thrilling but the crashes were epic, and sometimes with horrific results. Within only a few short years, Drag City had gained a reputation as being a particularly dangerous track, one that would be attempted only by the bravest drivers at the speeds the sports cars of the era were then attaining. In this configuration the track would continue to draw crowds, money and blood through the remainder of the 1970’s and into the 1980’s; the additional expansion-and the additional controversy-is part of the rest of the story, coming soon!

When the new second expansion of Drag City Raceway opened in the summer of 1970, it drew crowds that area residents claimed doubled the size of Wardglenn. The track’s unusual and unorthodox design drew curiosity from drivers and racing teams as well as spectators, as they were anxious to see what their cars could do on the corkscrews and banked turns, and to prove it to the public. The season started with a bang, with highly sponsored big-bore sports cars, a new Trans-Am series, and the usual bevy of muscle car road racing and drag racing. However, the season was fraught with disastrous crashes; no fewer than 4 drivers were killed in that first season. Even more concerning, a crew member was killed and several more injured when a Lola GT careened off the mid-section and flew into the paddock area. Perhaps the most frightening incident was a car crashing into the parking lot of the diner; although the driver escaped with only mild injuries and no one else was harmed, the cars of several spectators and patrons were damaged in the incident, and it seemed certain that, had things gone a little differently, several people might have been killed. By the time the season ended, some were speculating that the new track design was built more for a “wow factor” than for functionality or safety.

The decision was made to relocate the diner to the other side of the track beginning in early 1971; although the track’s managers claimed this was for safety, it was likely primarily due to the decision to build a new expansion of the parking lot, for which shuttle busses were added to bring spectators to the gates on the other side of the track. The racers came back in ’71 primarily because the crowds were bigger than ever, but throughout the decade, Drag City had more than its share of injurious and fatal wrecks. The media, as always, hyped the death and destruction for ratings, and some of the headlines and interviews of the period with both spectators and even some pit crew members were filled with ominous descriptions of the dangerous conditions of the track’s design. Several grim nicknames were given to the track in the press; “Widow Maker”, “Blood Alley”, and “Corpse Grinder” were some of the more colorful to appear in print. More frequently, the course was referred to as “a life-size Hot Wheels track”, fitting in more ways than one, as the Mattel toy company’s Hot Wheels division was one of the track’s biggest sponsors!

Controversy sells-and so do its bedfellows, death and destruction; precisely because of this darkening repute, each season seemed to draw more crowds than the one before it. Many of the top professional racing drivers of the era deemed the track too dangerous to attempt-and many said so, publicly. Yet, many 2^nd tier professionals and countless amateurs were unable to resist the money and the fame, and so the competitors kept coming. Toward the end of the decade, however, several incidents had occurred that threatened the track’s existence: on several occasions, cars crashed into the parking shuttles where they lined up to pick up and drop off spectators at the northwest portion of the track; though they were often empty when these incidents occurred, on one occasion two spectators inside a shuttle were killed, and on another a shuttle driver was badly injured. The diner also saw a terrifying incident when a Cobra coupe spun out on the elevated section of the track and came to rest on the roof of the building. Again the diner patrons escaped injury, but the incident made headlines all over the state, in part because it was caught on film by a local news sports crew. And time and again, the new expanded parking lot was the scene of cars crashing spectacularly, often causing tremendous damage to multiple parked vehicles.

That more people were not injured or killed is somewhat surprising, but after a few seasons of these kinds of incidents, the lawsuits began to come thick and heavy. The Henderson family, always shrewd in business, sold out their concerns in 1974 to a consortium of investors who now had to decide if it was worth trying to continue in business or to close the track completely. By 1980, the future of Drag City was looking uncertain. How the raceway’s glory and popularity were restored is part of the rest of the story, coming soon!

By the beginning of the 80’s, Drag City Raceway was in financial trouble. Though tickets were still selling, the majority of the activity was back to what it had been when everything began in the early ‘50’s: ¼ mile drag racing. Sports car and sports-racing action was still occurring, but with only a fraction of the frequency of just a few short years earlier. Partly this was due to a general decline in interest in motor sports nationwide, but it was also influenced by the track’s reputation as a dangerous place to “do business”…if your business happened to be driving fast. Shortly before the 1980 election, the track was put up for sale and purchased by a new consortium of investors headed by gregarious personality Willard Whyte. Although all the names involved remain shrouded in mystery to this day, we know that Gulf Oil had a large stake, as did BP, Raybestos, Goodyear, and Lesney Products Ltd, makers of Matchbox cars. It was clearly Willard Whyte who was in charge, however, and he did what he was known for: hired people smarter than himself about the nature of the concerns he invested in to run them. The new manager of the track, Thomas “Tommy” Rutherford, had a “vision” for restoring the course’s reputation that, in hindsight, seems like no vision at all, except for one thing: it worked brilliantly. Rutherford’s fix for the woes of the track’s dangerous design was to do nothing to the track itself, but instead to expand the facilities and amenities available to both the racing teams and spectators alike.

Within barely two years, several new facilities and structures were built; there was a 3 level parking garage for “VIP” visitors-those willing to pay a premium for parking-which included a full service car wash and lube and tire maintenance facilities.

a second, even larger garage was built to serve as the racer’s paddock and pit garage, heavily branded with Matchbox logos. This double-decked full service shop, complete with a hydraulic elevator to ferry cars to the second level, was set up to do full on-site teardowns and rebuilds of racing cars and was staffed with mechanics, as well as offering facilities and tools for “guest” racing team mechanics. Shortly thereafter, a fuel station was installed at this pit garage which was naturally sponsored by BP.

Then an entire new road was built to divert traffic heading for the track off of the overcrowded frontage road (the road that was the original service road on Henderson’s land that started it all) and around the back side of the new VIP parking garage, directly into the expansion parking lot.

The Outlaw Garage tuning shop remained in operation, but it changed hands when a deal could not be reached with the previous owners on rent. The grandstands were rebuilt as a more modern 2-storey affair with a stairwell enclosed in glass, new larger restroom facilities were added, a courtyard area was set aside for caterers, food and beverage vendors and food trucks, and numerous facilities for RV and caravan camping were built. Goosed by an inflow of investment-the result of a “shot in the arm” to the economy from the incoming Reagan administration-all of this additional construction and expansion was accompanied by an ad campaign waged throughout the west coast and in select markets as far east as Texas, using the famous 1963 hit song “Drag City” by Jan & Dean as a jingle.

While the drag strip remained open and in operation throughout most of this construction, most of the rest of the track was closed-on and off-for a 2 year period, This was a clever gambit by Rutherford to give the illusion of improvements being made to the track itself. The pavement was improved with several rough and uneven areas being re-graded and new concrete poured, but the banked and elevated design remained fundamentally unaltered. By the fall of 1982 most of the new construction was done, and the ad blitz had worked: when the 1983 racing season began, competitors and spectators alike were lined up at the gates to get in! A few years of advancement in brake and tire technology, as well as international standards that reduced engine and horsepower capacity for some racing classes, helped give the impression that the track was now safer, and fewer serious accidents have occurred in the years since the grand re-opening. In addition, there is now a significant amount of vintage racing occurring, as the great cars of the past are raced in events that are as much exhibitions as competitions. Today, there is talk of a yet another significant expansion in the size and scope of the track as interest in motor racing seems to be rising!