Garden Spot Airpark/Lancaster Drag-O-Way (Mountville)

Drag racing started on a runway at Garden Spot Airpark, four miles west of Lancaster south of State Highway 462 (Columbia Avenue), and the name Lancaster Drag-O-Way first appeared for the race on May 18, 1957. The Red Rose Timing Association ran the races. The field opened after World War II as a 2,400-foot turf strip and was paved with concrete and lengthened several hundred feet after 1954. Saturday night races drew 1,000 to 3,000 fans. In 1957 the Lancaster Kiwanis Club sponsored weekly races. On May 25, 1957, 8,000 spectators saw Bob Carroll of Marietta run 120 mph in his roadster, with proceeds going to children’s projects. On June 1 Earl Bomberger won top eliminator and Charles Dresden was fastest at 97.192 mph. Night racing began in 1958, and four-wide eliminations started that August. The strip was ahead of its time with grudge racing and women’s match races, and the York Airport races used its class rules in 1959. Arfons’s Green Monster was booked for October 10, 1959.

Neighbors complained about noise and bright lights and went to court in 1959 without success. Chinchilla rancher Ralph Kohr did better. He sued that year, claiming the noise made his animals chew their fur and ruined the pelts, and won $9,361 in damages, which strip owner Henry Weber had to pay. No racing after 1959 has been found, but old-timers say it ran until 1961 or 1962. One blamed the chinchillas for the closing, while another said noise wasn’t the issue and the farmer eventually just got rid of them. Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins got his start in drag racing here.