High Country Raceway (Lethbridge)

Tim Gailey of High River worked with the city of Lethbridge to fence off a street for a drag course at 9th Avenue and 43rd Street North, in the northeast industrial area. Gailey and other investors wanted to see whether southern Alberta had enough interest to justify a $600,000 drag strip they were looking to build in Fort Macleod. Races ran once a month in May, June and July. Fewer than a thousand people came, and the investors lost $5,000 on each of the three events. They canceled the August and September races and dropped plans for a southern Alberta track. On June 9, 1985, Gary Lee Ziegler, 38, was standing beside his brother Brian’s dragster while Brian revved the engine when a harmonic balancer blew off and struck him in the head, killing him instantly. The city council said it would review its position on drag racing because of the death. One more race was held after the accident, and poor attendance was the real reason the racing stopped.