Grand Bend Dragway
Status unknownStatus unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found.
- John Harbert set a track record of 7.87 at 191.08 mph at Fuelarama 65
- A 1966 folk concert meant to draw 10,000 drew 100
- Raced
- 1964-69
- Province
- Ontario
- What's left
- How much of the site survives hasn't been checked yet.
- On the site today
- Grand Bend Motorplex drag strip (from 1995)
- Raced on
- An airport runway
- First race
- July 5, 1964
- Last race
- 1969
- Track
- 3,000 feet of runway
- Surface
- Resurfaced runway
- Location
- Grand Bend Airport
- People
- Eight young men from Sarnia, Grand Bend and London, founders (1964)
- Sanction
- NASCAR
- Elevation
- 630 ft (192 m)
- Coordinates
- 43.29048, -81.71781
Eight young men from Sarnia, Grand Bend and London, Ontario, teamed up to turn the unused Grand Bend Airport into a drag strip, resurfacing 3,000 feet of runway. It opened on July 5, 1964. On August 1, 1965, Lang Chase of Blenheim set a track record of 8.57 at 184.04 mph in his AA/FD, and on August 29, at Fuelarama 65, John Harbert lowered it to 7.87 at 191.08 mph. To branch out, the track promoted a folk music concert for the last weekend of July 1966, hoping for close to 10,000 people, but only 100 came over two nights. In 1967 it switched to NASCAR sanction and tried Saturday night racing instead of Sundays. It was put up for sale in 1968 and closed in 1969. In 1995 the airport became a drag racing venue again as Grand Bend Motorplex.
Background
Drag racing in Grand Bend carries on today at Grand Bend Motorplex, southeast of town, where a quarter-mile IHRA strip hosts the yearly Mopar Canadian Nationals, billed as the country's oldest and biggest national drag race. The property also has a road course and two motocross tracks.
Video
More in Ontario
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