Greenbelt Drag Strip (Quanah)

The Quanah Jaycees set up this strip on a stretch of old concrete highway one mile west of Quanah, closed off when Highway 287 was rerouted around 1960. It lay west of the Chief Drive-in Theatre on the south side of Highway 287. Racing started June 23, 1963, with 75 cents admission, a $1 entry fee and trophies for eliminator winners. About 350 people came to the first race, where Alton Williford of Childress won top eliminator in his ‘63 Plymouth. Around 100 more watched free from the new highway, so the Jaycees put up a fence. By 1964 there were bleachers for about 100. The return road was dirt, and races were called off when rain made it wet. Racing was held on the first and third Sundays at first, then every Sunday from July 1964. A man who heard about the track from his father said Quanah used a stop light donated by the city when other tracks still used flaggers, and his dad watched the man flipping the switch from red to green instead of the light. No racing has been found after 1964.