Phenix Drag Strip

History

The first races on the Ft. Mitchell Dragstrip were held in December 1960. Owners and managers Bo Duke and J. W. “Red” Evans repaved it in March 1961 and reopened it as Phenix City Drag Strip on April 2, 1961. Business was poor, and Duke and Evans lost the track. New owners reopened it as Russell County Dragway on November 5, 1961, with 3,500 feet of pavement, bleachers for 1,200 and plans for a children’s nursery with an attendant. It was NHRA-sanctioned and raced every Sunday.

On November 19, 1961, in front of 5,000 fans, Ron Pellegrini ran 9.919 at 169.71 mph in Ivo’s four-engine dragster, and Lewis Carden won top eliminator and set a track record in his A/D at 9.55 and 160.4 mph. Pete Robinson raised the marks to 8.85 at 171.10 mph on December 3. On December 31, Don Garlits, running fuel, beat Robinson, running gas in his AA/GD, in a match race that rain cut to a single run. Garlits went 8.57 at 175.78 mph to Robinson’s wheelstanding 8.90 at 163.93. At an NHRA regional race on July 21-22, 1962, several national records fell and Ken Scott took top eliminator in his AA/D.

Duke and Evans leased the strip near the end of the 1962 season and renamed it Phenix Dragway, with a grand opening on December 16, 1962. Jerry Coley and Robert O. Watson filed incorporation papers for Phenix Dragway on November 16, 1963, and Coley ran the strip at least through the 1960s. On January 26, 1964, Don Nicholson ran an 11.44 in his ‘64 fiberglass Mercury Comet Marauder station wagon. Phenix first hosted an NHRA division meet in 1964 and kept hosting them through at least 1970, with one scheduled for April 1-2, 1967. On August 4, 1974, motorcycle daredevil Bob Pleso, 22, of Ocala, Florida, was killed in front of 3,000 people trying to jump thirty cars. He came down on the twentieth car and was thrown to the ground. The track runs eighth-mile events today.