Kel-Reca Drag Strip (Ginther)

Ray Poreca and Donald Kellner built this paved eighth-mile strip in Still Creek, northwest of Hometown, and named it by combining their surnames. Nothing of it is visible now, but it sat south of Fairview Street between Mazur Lane and State Route 309.

The first race may have been on Sunday, July 28, 1963. Ron Chivinski of McAdoo took top eliminator in D Gas, Judson Hill of Tamaqua set top time in Class A-1 Stock, and 22 trophies went out. Racing was planned for every Sunday. On August 4, 39 racers split 24 trophies, and Ron Mussoline of Hazleton took top time and top eliminator in his B Stock car. The biggest field yet came on August 18, when 72 cars won 32 trophies, so in those early days few people went home empty-handed.

Poreca bought out Kellner before the 1964 season and kept racing every Sunday. Sixty cars ran on August 2, 1964, and the next week every entry got a trophy to draw more racers. Judson Hill was the 1964 points leader. On May 16, 1965, Al Senape beat a 78-car field for top eliminator with a 7.17, the quickest time that season. The track tried Thursday twilight races for a while and dropped them, then started go-kart drags on June 20, 1965, claiming a first in the nation.

The racing distance kept changing. It dropped from an eighth-mile to a sixteenth-mile on July 18, 1965, along with a rebuilt return lane, win lights and new bleachers. About a month later it moved to a tenth-mile, and in 1966 it went back to a sixteenth. A street eliminator class came in late August 1965. On October 17, 1965, the Emert Brothers of Binghamton, New York, set a track record of 5.74 seconds in their Ford-powered B dragster, and Neal Hinkle won street eliminator in his 1961 Corvette. On October 16, 1966, class winners got red-lettered Kel-Reca Drags jackets, which proved popular enough to keep handing out.

The track shut for all of July 1967 for repairs. In 1968 Harry Boyer of Freeland posted top time and speed week after week in his ‘58 Corvette, including 5.55 seconds at 90 MPH on June 30. Ed Curilla set a track record of 4.90 seconds at 103 MPH in his 1958 sports car on October 13, 1968. Carl Brucker beat it on August 19, 1973, with 4.89 seconds at 106 MPH in his ‘49 Anglia.