Maryland International Raceway (Mechanicsville)

History

According to the track’s own history, Joe LaRoque built it in 1966 as St. Mary’s Drag-O-Way. The first event, in July 1966, was the NASCAR Top Fuel Championships, won by Ronnie Still with a Hemi small-block Chevy. LaRoque owned it for a little over a year. Car dealer Bill Cairns, a St. Mary’s County resident, bought it in 1967, renamed it Budds Creek Raceway and ran it until 1972.

Tod Mack and Larry Clayton bought it next and named it Maryland International Raceway. Mack had worked for the NASCAR Drag Division and helped design the track when LaRoque built it. Their first U.S. Pro Stock Open in 1975 drew such a crowd that they ran out of tickets. At one point they set up two Christmas trees and four lanes, timing first through fourth place in four-car races. Mack also built the first digital timing system, DigiTime, and in 1975 started pari-mutuel betting at the track, which he called the Dragzacta system. When they took over, a canyon about 90 feet deep sat where the tower now stands, and they filled that stretch, hundreds of feet wide and a couple hundred feet long, with gravel to make room around the starting line. Another large canyon is still behind the winner’s circle. At one time they even talked about reversing the track direction.

Royce and Linda Miller leased the track in late 1989 and kept the name. Royce had been the track’s Super Pro champion in 1984 and also owns commercial real estate in Manassas, Virginia. The track stayed with NHRA until 1991 and switched to IHRA for 1992. The Millers bought it in February 1998. The track has had several facelifts, with more improvements planned.