Beaver Springs Dragway
ActiveActive Still racing today.
Mikey and Emily McCracken announced they will take over Beaver Springs Dragway's ownership and management through MGM Motorsports LLC beginning with the 2027 season.
- NHRA division track of the year in 1988
- Built in a month after a rival track owner ridiculed the founder
- Raced
- 1971-present
- State
- Pennsylvania
- Raced on
- An airport runway
- First race
- May 30, 1971
- Track
- 1/4 mile
- Address
- 109 Race Track Lane
Beaver Springs, PA 17812 - People
- Ike McCardle, co-founder and financial backer (1971)
- Bob McCardle, founder, owner and operator (1971-)
- Sanction
- IHRA
- Elevation
- 629 ft (192 m)
- Coordinates
- 40.77475, -77.21680
Big races
Mopar or No Car Nationals
A long-running all-Mopar race weekend that drew its ninth edition and more by the mid-2020s.
Labor Day weekend race
A four-day holiday race weekend that ranks with Memorial Day as the track's biggest event of the year.
History
Ike McCardle and his grandson Bob McCardle built this strip on the layout of the old Cameron Airport, in the village of Benfer two miles north of Beaver Springs, and opened it under NHRA sanction on May 30, 1971. As the story goes, Bob was cheated out of $20 by the owner of the Kreamer drag strip. When he said he’d build his own strip in western Snyder County, the owner laughed at him and twice stepped and spat on his new sneakers. With his grandfather’s money, Bob turned the airport into a race track in a month. The track won NHRA division track of the year in 1988 and stayed with NHRA through at least 1998, and it was IHRA sanctioned by 2005. Crosswinds can be strong, and a racer from the 1980s and ’90s said they could really give you a thrill. On September 4, 1995, Carol “Bunny” Burkett crashed her funny car at over 220 mph when the other car drifted into her lane and forced her off the track. She was left partly paralyzed but recovered and kept racing. Bob McCardle still owns and runs it as an IHRA track.
Video
More in Pennsylvania
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