Gilbert Airstrip

Nothing left

Also known as Gilbert Auxiliary Army Airfield #1

Raced: 1954
State: Arizona
What's left: The site was redeveloped and nothing of the strip remains.
On the site today: No remnants of the airstrip remain
Raced on: A military airfield
First race: February 7 (first documented)
Surface: Runway
Location: Gilbert Airstrip southeast of Mesa, half a mile east of Superstition Springs Mall
People: Drag'ns Car Club, race organizer
Southwest Timing Association, race organizer
Elevation: 1,399 ft (426 m)
Coordinates: 33.38832, -111.67107

The Drag’ns Car Club invited the public to watch drag races on February 7 at the Gilbert Airstrip southeast of Mesa. It’s the first documented race, though there may have been earlier ones. The State Highway Patrol supervised, and merchants donated prizes. Before a July 4 race, the Drag’ns joined another local car club to form the Southwest Timing Association, which got insurance from NHRA and bought photoelectric timers. The airstrip was probably Gilbert Auxiliary Army Airfield #1, built between 1937 and 1943 with two 4,000-foot runways and a connecting taxiway on the east side. It sat half a mile east of Superstition Springs Mall, and nothing of it remains.

1971 aerial view of the old airfield shows that the southernmost part of the airfield had been mostly obliterated by a golf course and trailer park

2005 aerial view of the site of the old airfield, drawn by Chris Kennedy. The intersection of the two runways was a few hundred yards west of where Costco is today

This 2020 photo taken by Kevin Walsh looks at the last remnant of airfield pavement

More in Arizona