Hirsch Airfield (Laredo)
ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.
Also known as Hirsch Field; Laredo Auxiliary Airfield No. 2
- Drag News columnist Chuck Oliver called it one of the longest, smoothest and finest strips in the US
- Held half-mile drag races in 1958
- Raced
- 1957-58, 1960
- State
- Texas
- What's left
- A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
- Raced on
- A military airfield
- Track
- 1/2 mile races in 1958
- Location
- Eighteen miles east of Laredo
- People
- Laredo Timing Association, race operator (1957-58)
- Roadrunners car club, race operator (1960)
- Elevation
- 515 ft (157 m)
- Coordinates
- 27.47573, -99.22510
The Laredo Timing Association ran drag races at Hirsch Field, also called Laredo Auxiliary Airfield No. 2, eighteen miles east of Laredo. In his Drag News column of March 22, 1958, Chuck Oliver called it one of the longest, smoothest and finest strips in the country. On March 3, 1957, 1,000 people watched G. O. Goodlet of Corpus Christi take top eliminator at 112.50 MPH. On April 7, 1957, Gene Brown, also of Corpus Christi, won top eliminator at 128.57 MPH in his Cadillac-powered Chevy, and the next monthly race was set for May 5. In 1958 the field held half-mile drag races. In 1960 the Roadrunners car club regrouped after about a year of inactivity, with sanction from Laredo Air Force Base and the Laredo Police. The club held a well-attended race at Hirsch Field on Sunday, March 27, 1960, and another in mid-May.
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