Forty Fort Drags

Quarter-mile drag races ran at Forty Fort Airport, now Wilkes-Barre Wyoming Valley Airport, on the bank of the Susquehanna River three miles northeast of Forty Fort. The first, on November 17, 1957, was run by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Timing Association under NASCAR sanction and drew 5,000 spectators. The Ridge Runners Hot Rod Club was running races there in 1958, and from that year the drags were paired with the annual Giants’ Despair Hill Climb, a timed measured-mile event usually held in late July. Drag News columnist Bill Holz came to the June 15, 1958 race with Bill Jenkins, the same Bill Jenkins who became famous later. He found stock car inspection amounted to two men pumping the brake pedal and turning the steering wheel, though the modified cars got a proper check, and described the strip as rough but close to 400 by 150 feet.

The timing association paid Luzerne County $1,436 for the 1959 races. In 1960 it wanted two more races besides the hill climb event, but county commissioners didn’t favor it, so from 1960 to 1964 the drags were a once-a-year event. They ran on Sunday afternoons until 1964, when they moved to Friday night. Over 7,500 people watched almost 300 racers on July 28, 1963. The hill climb went on, but the drag race was dropped in 1965.