Crowley Drag Strip (Estherwood)

Dave Ledford and Edwin W. Edwards filed incorporation papers for Crowley Drag Strip on March 13, 1964. Races ran at Le Gros Memorial Airport, just southwest of Estherwood, starting April 26, 1964, and then every fourth Sunday. On May 24, 1964, Buddy Roller won top eliminator on the quarter mile at 8.96 in Melvin Granger’s dragster, taking two trophies and $200.

On Sunday, March 28, 1965, Albert Waite won Top Fuel at 8.23 and 180 mph before more than 1,500 people, the strip’s biggest crowd that year. Q-Ball Wale, Pete Mattei and Dave Ledford were among the other fuel racers. On April 25, 1965, eleven top fuelers ran for 1,100 spectators, and Pete Mattei of Metairie beat Wale at 8.11 and 186 mph. Willis Ragsdale of Pasadena, Texas, won competition eliminator in his B/A. The strip had NHRA sanction by 1967. That December, John Frith of Kaplan asked to run races at the airport in 1968. The Acadia Parish Police Jury first told him he’d need the leaseholders’ permission and enough insurance, but in early January 1968 it decided to allow no more drag racing there.