Lake Wales Municipal Airport

Closed

Where Don Garlits started drag racing in 1952
Garlits's first major win came here in 1955

Raced: 1952-60
State: Florida
What's left: A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
Raced on: An airport runway
First race: 1952
Surface: Runway
Location: Lake Wales airport runway
People: Tach Twirlers car club, sponsor (1954)
Triangle Timing Association, operator (1959-60)
Elevation: 124 ft (38 m)
Coordinates: 27.89513, -81.61920

Don Garlits learned to drag race on the runway at Lake Wales, the closest strip to his home. He started racing there in 1952 and got his first major win there in 1955, taking top eliminator against the Norton Brothers and Charlie ‘King’ Hogan. The field opened as a civil airport in 1928 and was leased in 1943 by the U.S. Army Air Force as an auxiliary field. The Army built two 4,000-foot runways, which went back to civilian control in 1945. The Tach Twirlers car club sponsored a race on September 19, 1954. The Triangle Timing Association ran races on the second Sunday of the month in 1959-60. The track record in 1959 was 10.3 seconds, and on Labor Day that year the association offered cash to anyone who could break it, calling the race The Little Big Go.

Flagman Willard Graves jumps high in the air to start a car at Lake Wale Airport on Labor Day 1959. Photo published in Orlando Sentinel, Sep. 9, 1959

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