Gardner Field/Taft Drag Strip

The grand opening at this newly built strip, seventeen miles southeast of Taft near Gardner Field, was on August 24, 1958. Taft Dragsters, Inc., headed by Jake Mason, sponsored it. The strip was 3/4 mile long and 800 feet wide and was sometimes called Gardner Field Dragstrip. Papers told Bakersfield fans to take Highway 33 south to Taft, 18 miles west of Mettler Station, then go 2 miles right at Gardner Field. The site, at Cadet Road and Basic School Road, is now just cotton fields. Bill Crossley set a strip record of 163.48 mph at the opener before 1,500 people in Ernie Hashim’s dragster, then raised it to 9.73 at 167.28 mph in the Hashim-Hylton-Crossley blown Chrysler dragster on September 14, 1958. On December 14, Jack Chrisman took top eliminator in his Sidewinder fueler, beating Tommy Ivo with a 9.26 at 164 mph. C. J. “Pappy” Hart, an experienced track manager, ran the NHRA-sanctioned strip in 1959 after Santa Ana closed. He added a paved pit area, a spectator lot and seating, and racing ran every Sunday. Racers broke eleven track records on January 17, 1960. In 1960 NHRA races ran only on the first Saturday of the month. At the annual Gold Cup on February 21, 1960, nineteen track records fell. The Cyr-Hopper blown Chrysler from Escondido took top eliminator with an 8.87 at 173.08 mph, and the Chrisman-Cannon “Hustler” A/FD had top speed at 173.73. Records from 1960 to 1967 are sparse.