Brooksville Municipal Airport

The U.S. Army Air Force built this airport and sold it to the city of Brooksville after the war. The West Coast Timing Association (WCTA) got permission to use its north-south concrete runway for Sunday races, starting February 28, 1954, and the concrete made for fast times. Hot Rod Magazine mentioned it in April 1954 (page 51). Don Garlits raced here often in 1956, 1957 and 1958 and called it one of his favorite strips, partly because the Junior Chamber of Commerce ran the races well. On September 28, 1958 he ran 173.077 mph, and his brother Ed Garlits ran 134.328 mph in his dragster. The October 26, 1958 race was the first under NHRA sanction.

Don Garlits won top eliminator on January 11, 1959 at 145.161 mph and 9.85 seconds, and on January 25 he outran Serop Postoian, 166.666 mph to 163.636, in a world title challenge. On February 22, 1959, Art Arfons ran 180.905 mph, an unofficial world record for fuel that beat Garlits’s old 180 mph mark, while Garlits’s best that day was 173.769 mph. Ed Garlits won top eliminator on April 12, 1959 at 9.99 and 147.541 mph. On April 26, 1959, Don Garlits set an unofficial world record of 185.566 mph in 8.369 seconds, beating the recognized record of 181.818 mph set by Art Chrisman at Bakersfield seven weeks earlier. He credited a better setup with his new supercharger. The last drag race was May 17, 1959. A 15-year-old boy was killed that day in an accident unrelated to racing, but the end of racing at Brooksville seems tied more to the opening of the nearby Golden Triangle Drag Strip than to his death.