Hey just curious as its been years since I've been to a drag strip, but how long do they usually go for a quarter mile and how wide are they like, 70' or what? And what surface, usually asphalt, concrete or what?

Reason being I was trying to think of some new businesses that could come to where I live and realized that in the next 5 years or so the local airport will likely be closing, as they are building a new one farther from town. But its got a 4000' x 70' asphalt runway which will be abandoned. We have no tracks nearer than at least an hour I would guess, and I think it might be a possible use for the airport when it closes. But I wasn't sure the dimensions for most drag strips.

9/4/2005 12:19:34 PM

that runway is plenty big. I beleive they are 60ft wide, and up to 1/2 mile long.

9/4/2005 12:53:30 PM

Can running a dragstrip be a profitable enterprise, or is this mainly something you do for the love?

9/4/2005 2:58:25 PM

sure it can be profitable......but im thinking the margin would be fairly small.....your startup, insurance, site prep, etc costs are gonna be killer

9/4/2005 3:54:58 PM

It'd be a much better draw if you made it a 1/4 mile track for sure

9/4/2005 5:46:43 PM

naw, a 3/8. need to let most of the cars get up to 100mph.

9/4/2005 5:49:22 PM

Shit, just do it as a half mile track. Do many/any make runs of that length? You'd still have like 1500' to rollout on after you hit the half.

9/4/2005 6:34:11 PM

there are some half mile strips i think

9/4/2005 11:12:02 PM

if you are really serious my uncle bought a speedway, i could ask him for some pointers

(its kinda different than a drag strip but some things should apply considering what you want to do with it)

[Edited on September 4, 2005 at 11:41 PM. Reason : .]

9/4/2005 11:37:57 PM

Hell I've just been casually thinking about it, but the possibility is there. The airport is just off 158 and has plenty of ramp room that could be used if car shows were there. On the other side of the paved runway is a grass strip. This area would be great to setup for a tractor pull and eventually could even put in a mudboggin' strip in there too. Hell if you could pick up the whole airport plot, you could even find enough room in there to put in a roadcourse.

I do think it might be an interesting drawing point for racing of all kind. Imagine if you could go somewhere that you could see tractor pulls, mudracing, roadcourse or short track racing, and a BIGASS drag strip.

The local area wants to become a tourist haven and I have to think this would be something new that few other local tracks could offer. In fact with all of that, you could likely pull in some fairly big name shows like NOPI, Super Chevy Show, or something along those lines.

9/5/2005 12:34:54 AM

what you are talking about would require a shit ton of capital

even if someone gave you the airport for free

9/5/2005 12:45:19 AM

itll never happen

9/5/2005 1:13:45 AM

Well obviously it would be a damn big investment. One would need to get investors on it. But I wasn't talking about doing all that shit at once. I figured if you could get the land your dragstrip is pretty well already there. Obviously you need to light it, put stands in and retaining walls, but that would be the cheaper way to go.

The tractor pull area is already cleared and flat too. Would just need to setup seating and that sorta thing as well.

You could probably also do a little go-cart dirt track or something in there relatively cheap. The only local go-cart dirt track is like 40 minutes away in the middle of nowhere and I think they are seriously considering closing it down.

The track part would be a LOT later down the road, if ever. With it not being paved already you would spend a shit ton. But it would be something that could be put in later if the strip made pretty good money and pulled in the crowds.

Like I said, this isn't something I was too serious about as it would probably be 5 years minimum before they even have the other airport complete. But I was interested in ideas on what would be required for a "raceway" style place.

9/5/2005 7:41:45 AM

158? which airport?

9/5/2005 9:15:51 AM

Halifax County Airport.

Its like 3-5 miles west of Roanoke Rapids. Not very far from the interstate, but no city taxes and its not like the neighbors aren't used to loud noise.

BTW, the facility has a 4006' x 75' paved runway and at about a 60 degree angle to that is a 2100' x 150' grass strip. So there would be plenty of pre-cleared area that wouldn't have to be cleared or leveled at all and which you could use for all sorts of tracks.

[Edited on September 5, 2005 at 9:45 AM. Reason : ]

9/5/2005 9:36:07 AM

Rockingham dragway has 5000' of drag strip and it is only a quarter mile race. The more length at the end, the safer you'd be.

9/5/2005 5:25:11 PM