Capital City Dragway (Montgomery)

Capital City Dragway was running by 1972 at the latest. Newspaper ads placed it across from Gunter Air Force Base, and old aerial photos show it sat north of the base, on ground the Dixie-Southland Drag Strip had used earlier. Drag Racing Unlimited, headed by Charles “Buck” Todd, sponsored the racing.

It started as a cheap, homespun operation. Todd recalled racing on Wednesday and Friday nights, with 1,500 to 2,000 kids turning out on Wednesdays. Cars were spot-started, and a man with a flashlight at the far end ran out and shook it over whichever lane won. When it was too close to call, Todd said, you’d see him run for the woods because a big fight was about to start.

On January 19, 1974, while getting Phenix Dragway ready for a race he was promoting, Todd was hit by a falling power line. He was electrocuted and left paralyzed from the sternum down. Recovery took a long time, but he went back to promoting drag races from a wheelchair. At the first Confederate Classic on July 27-28, 1974, racers broke 22 IHRA eighth-mile world records, with Shirl Greer winning funny car and John Austin winning top fuel. The track scaled back its promotions after that event. On March 14, 1977, Rodney Harleaux, a crewman for Wayne Collins, was killed when another car slammed into Collins’ Camaro at the end of the track. The starter hadn’t seen that the crew was still out there trying to get the Camaro off the track before he sent the next car.