MacDill Air Force Base (Tampa)

MacDill, four miles southwest of Tampa, began holding a yearly drag race in 1953 as part of its ‘safe wheels’ program. On August 21, 1955, the MacDill Timing Association ran a race for 3,000 spectators where Milton Bryan’s Lincoln V12 was fastest of 250 entries at 11.80 seconds. It went so well that races were planned about every six weeks. A race on October 9 drew 6,000 people to watch 142 racers, and another ran November 20. The first 1956 race was January 22, where 3,000 people saw Dennis Hess set a meet speed record of 113 mph on his motorcycle and Don Garlits run 12.5 seconds at 112 mph. On April 15 Garlits won the dragster class at 11.51 and the Modified Coupe class over 300 cubic inches in a ‘39 Ford, and on June 24 he was fastest again at 11.73 and 109.83 mph. MacDill was near Tampa and handy for Garlits.