Sloan Harrisburg Raceway

Large crowds came to the grand opening race on June 23, 1963, at this strip on the town’s old airport just north of Harrisburg. Races were timed over 1/5 mile that year. Night racing began on Friday, August 2, 1962, after ten big mercury vapor lights were installed. On September 15, 1963, Bill “Maverick” Golden was the featured wheelstander, and his “Little Red Wagon” became a regular, running there in 1963 and every year from 1969 through 1974. By 1966 at the latest, the strip raced every Saturday night, with trophies in all classes and cash in four.

In 1980 it was called Shawnee Dragway and ran Friday nights as an eighth-mile track. Rising insurance rates forced it to close in 1985, and it sat empty for more than a decade. In 2010 Greg Roberts, Gene Church and the group Cars for Kids tried to revive it but didn’t have the money. Frank Sisk bought the strip in 2012 and spent over $1 million rebuilding it, lengthening and widening the concrete to make it safe for eighth-mile racing. The new track opened in 2013 with a busy racing schedule.