Las Vegas Speedrome

Larry Horton opened this track in 1971 with a 1.7-mile road course and a drag strip on Las Vegas Boulevard North, northeast of Nellis Air Force Base, on land that’s now part of Las Vegas Motor Speedway. He saw an opening when Stardust Raceway closed in 1970. By 1975 at the latest, Carl “Curly” Price had leased the city-owned land and was running the tracks. The strip hosted an NHRA divisional points race in September 1975 and sometimes booked touring pro cars, but in the mid-1970s it mostly served local sportsman racers. Terry Weaver managed the drag strip for Price in 1976, when it raced every other week, and a half-mile oval was built that year.

Price ran into trouble with the city in 1976 for paying his $500 monthly rent late and not keeping a stockpile of gravel he had promised. He refused to comply, the city ordered him off the property, and the courts backed the city over his objections. Racing went on sporadically while the fight dragged into 1977. Little is known about the drag racing from the late 1970s through the 1990s. The old starting line is now part of the Bullring, a 3/8-mile asphalt oval southwest of the main speedway, and the strip shows up clearly in aerial photos.