Hyde Park Drag Strip

This asphalt strip sat east of Route 79 between Hebron and Newark, and the Newark Timing Association raced there every Sunday. Elwood Dodrill owned it from start to finish. Racers were timed over 3/16 of a mile. It opened on July 21, 1957. In his Drag News column of July 26, 1958, Bill Holz described it as about 2,600 feet long, with racing Saturday nights and Sundays, an uphill shutdown, and lighting that was fair for spectators but poor in the shutdown area. Old-timers recall pits cut into a hillside on several levels.

On June 14, 1958, Carroll Booth of Elyria was hurt racing his dragster in time trials. He sued the strip for $60,000, claiming he hit a chuckhole through its negligence, and got a settlement after the case went to court in March 1961. Blaine Shively of Strasburg set a track ET record of 8.08 seconds in early July 1960. Races ran Wednesday and Saturday nights and Sundays in 1960, and Saturday nights and Sundays in 1961. Frequent 1960s winners included Allen Vannoy in his Edsel-engined dragster and Dick Padar of Heath in his Chrysler-engined AA/GD. Racer Larry Karshner was killed on August 8, 1965. That year races ran Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights under the National Association for Timing and Acceleration Clubs (NATAC). The site is now the River Oaks subdivision in the village of Heath.