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Connecticut Dragway (East Haddam)

ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.

Also known as Connecticut International Raceway

Raced
1960-85
State
Connecticut
What's left
You can still spot it in aerial photos, or broken pieces of the track surface remain.
First race
1960
Last race
1985
People
  • Frank Maratta, founder and operator (1960-79)
  • Nutmeg State Timing Association, race organizer
Sanction
NHRA
Elevation
531 ft (162 m)
Coordinates
41.52352, -72.36459

Frank Maratta of Hartford began planning this strip in 1958 and opened it in 1960 under NHRA sanction, racing every Sunday. The Nutmeg State Timing Association ran the races. On June 3, 1962, Art Arfons’s Cyclops jet dragster went off the end of the track into the woods after a 184 mph run when its parachutes didn’t open. State police inspectors at the track didn’t want him to make a second run but weren’t sure they had the authority to stop him. On the second run the chutes worked and slowed him after 203 mph. A few days later the state police banned jet-powered drag racing in Connecticut. Maratta closed the dragway in 1979, but a group of investors reopened it as Connecticut International Raceway. It closed for good in 1985.

Video

8mm video footage of Connecticut Dragway in early 1970s, 2 minutes, no sound Watch on YouTube
8mm video footage of Connecticut Dragway in early 1960s, pan to 7:15 minute mark of clip, finished at 10:49 mark of clip Watch on YouTube
Listing in National Dragster, Dec. 23, 1977. Courtesy of Mel Bashore
Listing in National Dragster, Dec. 23, 1977. Courtesy of Mel Bashore
Wally Lynn's Ford-powered altered makes a run at Connecticut Dragway
Wally Lynn's Ford-powered altered makes a run at Connecticut Dragway
1991 aerial view of Connecticut Dragway
1991 aerial view of Connecticut Dragway
Connecticut Dragway, 1971 USGS topo map
Connecticut Dragway, 1971 USGS topo map
May 7, 1961
May 7, 1961
Dragster leaves line at Connecticut Dragway
Dragster leaves line at Connecticut Dragway
Gasser action at Connecticut Dragway
Gasser action at Connecticut Dragway
Fiat altered and its matching tow truck at Connecticut Dragway
Fiat altered and its matching tow truck at Connecticut Dragway
The old drag strip has been absorbed into the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center
The old drag strip has been absorbed into the Consumer Reports Auto Test Center

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