Lemmon Valley Drag Strip/Reno Dragway

The Nevada Timing Association planned a new strip in Lemmon Valley, twelve miles northwest of Reno and north of Stead Air Force Base, with two parallel asphalt racing lanes. The opening set for May 12, 1962 kept slipping. Weather slowed the work, and then Stead AFB objected to the height of the timing tower, which also held the restrooms, after earlier complaining it sat in line with the base’s main runway. The actual opening date hasn’t been found, but Hot Rod’s August 1962 list of NHRA tracks included it as the Stead Air Base Drag Strip, racing the second and fourth Sundays.

Nearly 1,000 spectators came on July 28, 1963, when Walter Huff of Reno won Junior Eliminator at 109.63 MPH. Jim Davis of Walnut Creek, California, set an AA/FD track record of 8.510 at 175.09 MPH on August 25. About 550 people saw the season finale on October 6, where Rich Guasco took top eliminator in the Guasco-Thorne AA/FD at 9.489 and 169.49 MPH, and Ralph Hayes of Santa Cruz ran 9.449 at 168.85 in his A/FD. After 1963 papers called it the Reno Drag Strip or Reno Dragway.

In 1964 it raced the second and last Sunday of each month from April through September under NHRA sanction, with Dan Wright as manager. The two-day Nevada Centennial Drag Races on May 9-10, 1964 saw 23 track records fall, including Del Peterson’s 8.51 at 187.10 MPH in the Masters & Richter Special A/FD from San Leandro. Merle Brennan managed the strip in 1965. After the July 4 race that year, a live band played for dancing on the strip at an event billed as “Drags-A-Go-Go.”

On August 14, 1965, owner George Peek shut the strip for the rest of the year over repeated vandalism. Vandals had stolen or wrecked every loudspeaker and broken windows, and in early December the timing equipment was stolen. New managers Robert Begvie, Mike Scott and Ron Burns reopened anyway on Sunday, December 12, 1965. The track limped on for a few more years without the excitement of the mid-’60s. An AHRA Grand American points race on June 15-16, 1968 was more or less its last big event. Newspapers called the strip defunct in 1973, though it probably saw no use long before that. It’s easy to spot in aerial photos.