Alamo Dragway (San Antonio)

Leroy Friesenhahn bought land on the Poteet Highway and partnered with brothers Dee, Johnny and Joe Martinez to build a first-class drag strip. Directions at the time put it five miles south of Loop 410 on State Highway 16 at Watson Road. It opened on Sunday, February 3, 1974, under AHRA sanction, filling the gap left when San Antonio Drag Raceway closed three years earlier. The strip was 60 feet wide and 3,400 feet long with steel-reinforced concrete guardrails, and it raced every Sunday. Officials expected 5,000 people for the first race, and 15,000 came, eager for drag racing’s return. Harry Urbach was quickest that day in his AA/FD at 6.96 seconds. In November 1976 the Edwards-Holley “Jaws” AA/FD beat Don Garlits in a match race and set a track record of 6.17 seconds. Alamo hosted the four-day AHRA Summer Nationals on June 30-July 3, 1977, where Gary Beck won Top Fuel and Dale Emery beat Ed McCulloch for Funny Car, with an estimated 56,000 fans over four days. The AHRA Nationals on June 19-22, 1980, offered more than $100,000 and drew Don Prudhomme, Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, Tom McEwan and Bill Jenkins, with more than 70,000 spectators. AHRA came back for the 25th annual Nationals on June 25-28, 1981, and again in 1982 and 1983. The strip closed when San Antonio Raceway opened in Marion, on the northeast edge of San Antonio.