Lakeland International Raceway/Drag Strip

Owner C. W. ‘Dub’ Palmore filed incorporation papers for Lakeland International Raceway, the track’s first name, on October 19, 1970. The track, four miles north of Lakeland, was also called Lakeland International Dragway or Lakeland Dragway. It began as a quarter-mile strip, but after a few years its shutdown land was sold for industrial use, and in 1980 it became an eighth-mile track. It later ran as an IHRA-sanctioned eighth-mile strip and was called Stingray Dragway for a few years before going back to the Lakeland Drag Strip name.

The first racing was scheduled for February 27, 1971. IHRA held its 1971 World Finals here October 1-3, where Art Arfons went 293 mph in his jet dragster, Hart-Cambell of Kentucky won top fuel, Richard Tharp funny car and Don Carlton Super Stock. IHRA’s first Winter Championship race came to Lakeland in 1972 and drew a full house over three rainy days, finishing on Monday night, with Tharp winning funny car in the Blue Max. The IHRA Winter Nationals returned March 2-4, 1973, when Pat Foster beat Ron O’Donnell for the funny car title at 6.63 in the Barry Setzer Vega and Don Carlton won Pro Stock in his Mopar Missile. IHRA held its season finals, the Nationals, here October 12-14, 1973, and the Winter Nationals came back again in 1974. At a Funny Car Spectacular in May 1974, Jerry Gwynn and Don Teague qualified first and second, Mike Evegens ran 248 mph in his jet dragster, and Richard Hutchins made exhibition runs in his wheelstanding Chevy Rebellion truck. The Coca Cola Cavalcade of Funny Cars ran June 16, 1974. In 1976 IHRA moved its Winter Nationals to Miami-Hollywood Speedway Park but opened its season with a two-day Winter Classic at Lakeland on February 21-22, and Don Garlits’s Professional Racers Organization held its Nationals ‘76 here November 12-14.

Roy Spiker and Chris Mueller co-owned the strip in the 1990s. Spiker, the owner in 2007, was negotiating a sale to a Chicago development group, but the deal fell through and racing went on. In 2017 he accepted an offer for the property and racing ended. The land was redeveloped into warehouses.