DeLand Municipal Airport

This city-owned airport three miles northeast of DeLand dates to the 1920s, was used by the military in World War II and then went back to civilian use. In 1965 NASCAR set up a Drag Race Division to get more involved in the sport. It leased the airport for February 18-26 to run a drag event during Speed Week, called the International Drag Festival or the NASCAR Drag Race Division Winter Championships. NASCAR repaved the strip, built bleachers for 4,000 fans and offered a $30,000 purse. A jet dragster show ran February 18, where Bobby Tatroe went 226.12 mph in the Exodus jet dragster, and three days of drag racing followed February 23-25, including a match race between Richard Petty and Fred Lorenzen. In 1967 NASCAR raised the purse to $35,000 for a week-long winter championship during Speed Week, with time trials February 18-19, more time trials and record runs on February 21 after a day off, and then three days of fuel dragsters and ultra stocks in the Detroit Showdown. Rain dogged the four-day championships, and it was NASCAR’s last drag race at DeLand. The winter championship was judged mostly a failure, and the Drag Division later folded.

Neighbors complained about the noise every year, and in February 1969 the city commission finally gave in and ruled out drag racing at the airport that year. NASCAR skipped its winter race, and the city turned down the DeLand International Dragways group, which wanted three-day races in February and July. In 1970 that group, led by Ray Bryant, won approval for a three-day event February 19-21. It went well enough that the city gave the group a three-year lease allowing four drag events a year. NHRA sanctioned the track, and a big two-day Super Stock event ran in early July. It’s not known what happened next, but that was the last big event at the airport. One old-timer saw a night match race between Big Daddy and Sneaky Pete Robinson during Speed Week in February 1970, lit by a single old searchlight on the back of a flatbed that got a little dim in the shutdown area. It was the first fire burnout he’d seen. Occasional drag races have been held at the airport in recent years.