Antelope Valley Drag Strip (Palmdale)

This NHRA-sanctioned strip sat at Palmdale Boulevard and 240th Street East. In its first season races ran on the last Sunday of each month, ending with a year-end race on December 28. In 1959 races ran monthly, managed by Ernest “Pop” Frerking, with the Optimist Club and the Antelope Valley Timing Association conducting the NHRA races on the fourth Sunday. In late June 1959, at what seems to have been an all-motorcycle meet, Ira Mahoney took top eliminator on his fuel-injected, blown Triumph A/F bike with 10.46 seconds at 121.72 mph, and M. H. Kibbe of Lancaster had top speed at 123.47. In July the track offered a $50 war bond to anyone who could beat the strip record of 156.68 mph. In August, Edwards Air Force Base airman Edward Davis, entered by the base’s Thunderbolt Custom Car Club, won super stock in his ‘58 Chevrolet with a best of 15.50 at 91 mph.