Cedar Hills Dragway/Richlands International Dragway/Big Al's Dragway (Cedar Bluff)

Richlands businessman Joe Simmons built this NASCAR-backed strip at Cedar Bluff, near Richlands, in two months, at a reported cost of $400,000, with grandstands for 8,000. It opened over the July 4th weekend in 1966 with a three-day event starring Doug Rose in Walt Arfons’s “Green Monster” jet car. On July 3 Rose hit 221.5 MPH, about 10 MPH short of the world record. He was only booked for Sunday but wanted a shot at the record, so he tried again on July 4. The track was slick with rain that day, and in front of 1,500 fans he lost control at just over 100 MPH, hit a guard rail and was thrown from the car. His leg injuries were so severe that both legs were amputated at the knee. It was a grim start for the track.

On September 4-5, 1966, the track ran a two-day stock car program with a match race between Stan Byrd and Lynwood Craft. Around 1971-72 it became Richlands International Dragway, a name it kept through at least 1982. In September 1981 Rickey Rhea, 29, of Kingsport, Tennessee, was killed when his throttle stuck and he went off the drop-off at the end of the shutdown area at full speed. By 1985 it was Big Al’s Dragway, and it was IHRA sanctioned in 1986. It ran through at least 1992, and the track still shows clearly in aerial photos.