Como/Midway Drag Strip

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Also known as Como-Pickton Drag Strip

Raced: 1957-ca. 1980s
State: Texas
What's left: You can still spot it in aerial photos, or broken pieces of the track surface remain.
On the site today: Old strip still visible
First race: by 1957
Location: Highway 11 between Como and Pickton, southeast of Sulphur Springs, across from Como-Pickton High School
People: Benny Blundell, manager (1968)
Larry Wade, owner (1980s)
Elevation: 548 ft (167 m)
Coordinates: 33.03257, -95.43222

This strip was running by 1957 if not earlier. It was southeast of Sulphur Springs on Highway 11, between Como and Pickton, and locals called it Como-Pickton Drag Strip. On June 10, 1967, Robert Gilman of Irving, who liked running the little outlaw strips, was killed when the frame of his modified T-bucket broke near the front wheels, making it pole-vault and overturn. He died shortly afterward in a Greenville hospital. In 1968 it was called Midway Drag Strip, managed by Benny Blundell, and raced every Saturday night with cash for all eliminator winners. John Rains was killed in a racing accident there on August 17, 1968. Larry Wade owned the strip in the 1980s. The old strip can still be seen across Highway 11 from Como-Pickton High School.

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