Aurora Airport

The Northwest Timing Association held the first sanctioned drag race at the Aurora emergency landing strip, two miles northwest of town and sometimes called Aurora State Airport, on June 21, 1953. Entry was $2, or $1 for members, in eight car classes and a motorcycle class. Races followed on July 5 and July 19 and then every two weeks. On July 5 Sam Weber beat Cliff Miller for Class A in his 1940 Ford. On July 19, about 1,500 people watched 35 cars and 10 motorcycles, Weber of Corvallis and Miller of Oregon City tied for top speed at 104.89 mph, and the stripped-down Weber & Hogan car won Class A again. On October 11, Clarence Everett of Salem won Classes A, B, C and D, and Wally Walery of Vancouver, Washington, was fastest at 114.5 mph on his motorcycle.

Buck Rossow had top speed of 106.84 mph on June 27, 1954, and Bob Eayres of Portland ran 116.47 mph on July 25. Justin George of Forest Grove was fastest at 115.48 mph on May 8, 1955, and on May 22 Don Fracher of Gresham hit 134.85 mph, reported as the fastest quarter-mile ever in the Northwest. Blanchard & Eayrs ran 133.81 mph on July 24, the Eugene Road Kings’ El Pronto Special of Weber-Scott-Hogan & Lipsit took Class A at 124.17 mph on August 7, and Paul Wellborn broke the B fuel record with the day’s best, 120.97 mph, on August 21.

In 1956 the Multnomah Hot Rod Council and the Northwest Timing Association raced the first and third Sundays. On April 8 the strip had its biggest gate, $1,103 from 2,207 spectators plus $484 in entry fees from 250 cars, and Wellborn was fastest at 11.4 and 129.42 mph in his Mercury-powered B fuel dragster. He raised the B fuel record to 132.47 mph on June 17. At a two-day NHRA regional on July 21-22, 3,000 people saw Bob Eayres and Bob Graves win top eliminator in their flathead Mercury car, while Rowland & Bonebrake of Portland had top speed of 132.74 mph in their rear-engined Studebaker-powered fuel dragster. Graves & Eayres raised the strip record to 10.93 and 137.63 mph on July 29, and Bonebrake & Rowland broke the X (unlimited) class record at 139.66 mph on August 26. At the season finale on September 30, Eayres & Graves switched to a blown 331 Chrysler and set a strip and Northwest record of 144.51 mph.

The 1957 season opened April 21 before 2,500 spectators, and Agnes & Graves won Class A at 145.63 mph. The Oregon Championship Drag Races on September 27, 1959, were the last races at the airport. The Northwest Timing Association then moved its efforts to Woodburn Drag Strip.