Harrison County Dragway/Derby City Dragway (Elizabeth)

Closed

Racers drove around a barn at the top end to reach the return road

Raced: 1966-82?
State: Indiana
What's left: You can still spot it in aerial photos, or broken pieces of the track surface remain.
Raced on: Built as a drag strip
Track: 1/8 mile
Surface: Paved, with a gravel shutdown
Location: About three miles east of Dogwood
People: Jimmy Troutman, builder and owner
Roger Brown, possibly helped start it
Sanction: NHRA
Elevation: 746 ft (227 m)
Coordinates: 38.07985, -86.03164

This eighth-mile track was about three miles east of Dogwood. A racer who lived in Elizabeth until 1969 said Jimmy Troutman built and owned it, and that he helped talk Troutman into building it. At first Troutman could only afford to pave two 100-foot lanes, used for burnouts, and later the full eighth mile was paved, with a gravel shutdown. Roger Brown may also have helped get it started. A man who raced there in the early 1970s remembered a barn at the top end that you had to drive around to reach the return road. The 17-acre property with the strip and picnic area was listed for sale in April 1970. Incorporation papers were filed on May 15, 1970, though the track had already been running for several years. It was NHRA-sanctioned through the 1970s and into the early 1980s and became Derby City Dragway in 1980. When it closed isn’t known.

1998 aerial view of Harrison County Dragway

Harrison County Dragway, 1977 USGS topo map

Two gassers jump off the line at Harrison County Dragway

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