Eglin Air Force Base Auxiliary Field No. 4 (Fort Walton)

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Also known as Peel Field; Phantoms Drag Strip

Raced: 1960-61
State: Florida
What's left: A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
Raced on: A military airfield
First race: July 3, 1960
Surface: Runway (poor condition)
Location: Peel Field (Eglin Auxiliary Field No. 4), 5.7 miles west of Valparaiso
People: Fort Walton Auto Club, operator (1960-61)
Elevation: 101 ft (31 m)
Coordinates: 30.51252, -86.59350

The Fort Walton Auto Club, an NHRA-chartered club, held its first drag race at Eglin Auxiliary Field No. 4, known as Peel Field, on July 3, 1960. The field, 5.7 miles west of Valparaiso, dated to World War II, and its runways were in poor shape by 1960. It had been folded into Eglin Air Force Base and deactivated in late 1959, which gave the club its chance. A second race followed on July 17, 1960. By a race on February 5, 1961, with a $500 purse, it was being called the Phantoms Drag Strip. Bill Capps and Wallace Josey both raced here in 1960.

This race for July 17, 1960, appears to have been the last and final race, after a military officer objected to admission being charged at the gate

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