The Biloxi Dragway was a NHRA/AHRA-sanctioned Quarter-Mile Drag Strip located in Biloxi, Mississippi, United States and operated from August 18, 1957 to July 1, 1967. [1] [2] [3]
The Biloxi Dragway was a NHRA/AHRA-sanctioned Quarter-Mile Drag Strip located in Biloxi, Mississippi, United States and operated from August 18, 1957 to July 1, 1967. [1] [2] [3]
Many drag racing pioneers raced at Biloxi. "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, [4] Tommy Ivo, Art Arfons, Chris Karamesines, Ronnie Sox, and Mr. Norm's Grand Spaulding Dodge. Locals, Paul VanderLey, Candies & Wale / Hughes, and Joe Teuton. 101 Hall of Fame associations are currently documented with the Biloxi Dragway.
Built by Earl C. Nolan for $30,000, [5] the strip operated under the name of the "Gulf Coast Drag Strip" from 1957-1964. [6] On May 8, 1960 an incident took place with a dragster crashing in to the fence toward Hwy 67 caused the ownership to change hands, with events being canceled in 1962. From 1962 Harvey & Bill Walther operated the venue till its closure in 1967.
Early on Keesler field men under the name "Keesler Coasters" competed in a dragster representing Keesler Air Force Base. [7]
On Dec 22, 1963 A Nationally Ranked Match for Drag News took place for number 4 in the United States. Albert Waits vs Vance Hunt.
Many Championship Events were held at the dragway, such as the yearly Mississippi State Championship, three Gasser Championships, and a B/Stock Championship.
Classes included: Motorcycles, Gassers, Super Stock, Funny Cars, and Dragsters [8]
Since 2006 Gulf Coast Historian Michael "Cory" Evans [9] [10] [11] [12] has extensively researched the history of the Biloxi Dragway. Local and national racers have since shared there experiences [13] [14] for the website, and upcoming book. In 2018 Cory Evans recreated the Biloxi Dragway for the video game BeamNG.drive as it appeared in 1967. [15]
Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most commonly 1⁄4 mi, with a shorter, 1,000 ft distance becoming increasingly popular, as it has become the standard for Top Fuel dragsters and Funny Cars, where some major bracket races and other sanctioning bodies have adopted it as the standard. The 1⁄8 mi is also popular in some circles. Electronic timing and speed sensing systems have been used to record race results since the 1960s.
Donald Glenn Garlits is an American race car driver and automotive engineer. Considered the father of drag racing, he is known as "Big Daddy" to drag racing fans around the world. A pioneer in the field of drag racing, he perfected the rear-engine Top Fuel dragster, an innovation motivated by the loss of part of his foot in a dragster accident. This design was notably safer since it put most of the fuel processing and rotating parts of the dragster behind the driver. The driver was placed in front of nearly all the mechanical components, thus protecting him and allowing him to activate a variety of safety equipment in the event of catastrophic mechanical failure or a fire. Garlits was an early promoter of the full-body, fire-resistant Nomex driving suit, complete with socks, gloves, and balaclava.
Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appearance vaguely approximating manufacturers' showroom models. They also have the engine placed in front of the driver, as opposed to dragsters, which place it behind the driver.
Shirley Muldowney, also known professionally as "Cha Cha" and the "First Lady of Drag Racing", is an American auto racer. She was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to drive a Top Fuel dragster. She won the NHRA Top Fuel championship in 1977, 1980, and 1982, becoming the first person to win two and three Top Fuel titles. She won a total of 18 NHRA national events.
The front-engine dragster is a type of racing car purposely built for drag racing. Commonly known as a "rail", "digger", or "slingshot", it is now considered obsolete, and is used only in nostalgia drag racing. Wheelbases ranged from 97 to 225 inches.
Nostalgia drag racing is a form of drag racing that uses cars from earlier eras of drag racing, as well as cars built to fit the guidelines of earlier eras using parts that would have been available in that era.
Russell James Liberman was an American funny car drag racer, nicknamed "Jungle Jim." In 2001, he was named #17 on the list of the Top 50 NHRA drivers of all time. Liberman was known for driving backwards at 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) after doing his burnout.
Della Woods is an AA/FC, National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) professional dragster driver. She was the first female driver in the five-second bracket in the funny car class, and the first female driver to go to the semifinals at an NHRA national event. She held the latter record for almost 22 years.
William Tyler Jenkins, nicknamed "Grumpy" or "The Grump", was an engine builder and drag racer. Between 1965 and 1975, he won a total of thirteen NHRA events. Most of these wins were won with a four-speed manual transmission. In 1972 he recorded 250 straight passes without missing a shift.
Eddie Hill is an American retired drag racer who won numerous drag racing championships on land and water. Hill had the first run in the four second range (4.990 seconds), which earned him the nickname "Four Father of Drag Racing." His other nicknames include "The Thrill", "Holeshot Hill", and "Fast Eddie". In 1960, he set the NHRA record for the largest improvement in the elapsed time (e.t.) when he drove the quarter mile in 8.84 seconds to break the previous 9.40-second record.
Don Nicholson was an American drag racer from Missouri. He raced in the 1960s and 1970s when there were few national events. The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) estimates he won 90 percent of his match races. As of 2002, he held the record for the most number of categories in which he reached a final round : Funny Car, Pro Stock, Super Stock, Competition Eliminator, Stock, and Street. He was nicknamed "Dyno Don" after he was one of the first drivers to use a chassis dynamometer on his cars in the late 1950s, a skill that he learned while working as a line mechanic at a Chevrolet car dealer.
Maple Grove Raceway (MGR) is a quarter-mile dragstrip located near Mohnton, Pennsylvania, just outside Reading. It opened in 1962 as a 1/5-mile dragstrip. It was eventually lengthened to its current quarter-mile length in 1964. The track has been sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association for most of its existence. It has hosted an NHRA national event since 1985. Uni-Select Auto Plus came aboard as the Nationals sponsor in 2011. Other key events include the American Drag Racing League, the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series, the Geezers Reunion at The Grove, the Super Chevy Show, Mopar Action, Fun Ford Weekend and the NHRA Pennsylvania Dutch Classic.
Bruce Larson (1937) is an American retired drag racer from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. He became nationally known for his match races. He quit funny Car racing in 1972 after a bad fire and raced in the Pro Stock class for 2 years. He then returned to the Funny Car class and match racing until 1987 where he fought his way to the NHRA Funny Car Championship in 1989. He led the points chase from start to finish collecting 6 National Event wins, 5 runner ups and the Car Craft Funny Car Driver of the Year award. That championship car is now one of only 2 drag race cars in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, the other being Don Garlits' rear engine dragster. He was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame in 2006. Larson is remembered for his red, white, and blue USA-1 Chevrolet Camaros.
Tom McEwen was an American drag racer who was a winner of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) U.S. Nationals. His racing career spanned 45 years. He is ranked at number 16 on a list of the 50 most significant drivers of NHRA’s first 50 years.
New England Dragway is a 1⁄4 mile NHRA dragway in Epping, New Hampshire, Rockingham County, United States. The track hosts the New England Nationals event as part of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. The track also hosts a regional event as part of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.
Jerry Ruth is a former professional drag racer who raced in the "golden age of drag racing" in the 1960s and 1970s. He was known as drag racing's "King of the Northwest".
Shirley Shahan is a pioneering American woman drag racer.
Curtis Smith is a second-generation American semi-retired drag racer. He is currently the All Time Winningest IHRA Stock Eliminator driver and the 1996 IHRA Stock World Champion. Smith was the first IHRA Sportsman driver to win 3 national events in a row in 1985.
Gaspar Ronda, better known as Gas Ronda, was an American drag racer. He was also a restaurateur. In 2016, Ronda was made a member of the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame.
Steve Reyes is an American photographer and storyteller from Oakland, California. Reyes has been included in Don Garlits' International Drag Racing Hall of Fame (2002), NHRA California Hot Rod Reunion Honorees (2009), and the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame (2011).
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