Dragstrips.org

Master Airfield (Miami)

ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.

Also known as South Field; Master Field

Raced
1959-64
State
Florida
What's left
You can still spot it in aerial photos, or broken pieces of the track surface remain.
On the site today
North Campus of Miami-Dade Community College
Raced on
A military airfield
First race
possibly 1958
Last race
November 15, 1964 (last found)
Location
Next to and east of Amelia Earhart Field, Miami
People
  • South Florida Timing Association, operator (1960-64)
  • Ramblers Road Club of Miami, race organizer (1961)
Sanction
NHRA
Elevation
4 ft (1 m)
Coordinates
25.88059, -80.24848

The South Florida Timing Association (SFTA) ran races here on the first and third Sundays. Drag racing may have started as early as 1958, when sports car races were certainly being held. Don Gist won Little Eliminator at an SFTA NHRA event on November 13, 1960 at 103.010 mph in his fuel-injected Corvette. The Ramblers Road Club of Miami held a two-day Grand International Fuel and Gas Drag Meet April 29-30, 1961, drawing an estimated 10,000 people and racers from at least 18 states. Art Malone had top speed at 186 mph, and proceeds went to Zane Johnson’s Girls Town, a planned South Florida school for underprivileged girls. The 1962 season opened January 7. About 200 entries ran the NHRA-sanctioned Eastern Winter National Drag Race on February 10-11, 1962, where Paul Johnson of Ohio won top eliminator and Don Gist won Mr. Stock Eliminator for the second year running.

In March 1962 the Dade County School Board took over the site and racing moved to Amelia Earhart Field, but it resumed at Master Field on August 19, 1962. The seventh annual Florida State drag championships, set for November 18, 1962, moved to Valkaria Airport when Master Field was taken over as a military installation the week before. The fourth Winter National Championship Drag Races ran February 15-17, 1963. Newspapers covered races only now and then, including October 13, 1963 and the SFTA’s eighth annual Charity Drag Race on December 14, 1963. The fifth annual Go South Winter National Championships drew more than 300 racers February 15-16, 1964. The last race found was November 15, 1964, when Don Garlits ran 200.08 mph. A 1968 Start & Strip list of 325 U.S. drag strips included Master Field, but nothing else supports racing that late.

The field dates to the early 1930s and was also called South Field. It sat next to and east of the smaller Amelia Earhart Field, which also held drag races. The Navy used it until closing it in 1959, and in the early 1960s the site began to be redeveloped as the North Campus of Miami-Dade Community College.

1963 aerial view of Master Airfield
1963 aerial view of Master Airfield
August 19, 1962
August 19, 1962
1963
1963
Walt Arfons drove the "Green Monster" at Master Field at the Grand International Fuel and Gas Races in 1961. Photo published in the Miami News, Apr. 30, 1961
Walt Arfons drove the "Green Monster" at Master Field at the Grand International Fuel and Gas Races in 1961. Photo published in the Miami News, Apr. 30, 1961
Don Garlits deploys his parachute after turning 200.08 MPH with a 7.72 ET on Nov. 15, 1964, at Master Field. Photo published in the Miami News, Nov. 16, 1964
Don Garlits deploys his parachute after turning 200.08 MPH with a 7.72 ET on Nov. 15, 1964, at Master Field. Photo published in the Miami News, Nov. 16, 1964
Paul Shapiro is at the wheel of the "Israeli Rocket" rear engine Olds-powered dragster of Cohen, Shapiro, Sonnenblik, and O'Brien at Master Field in 1963
Paul Shapiro is at the wheel of the "Israeli Rocket" rear engine Olds-powered dragster of Cohen, Shapiro, Sonnenblik, and O'Brien at Master Field in 1963
One of the difficulties in pinpointing a racing strip on old abandoned airfields is trying to determine which runway was used for racing. Without documentation that tells which runway was used, one has to look at old aerial photos to see if there are darkened tire track marks which might indicate a drag strip starting line. There is some indication on aerial photos that the northern west-east runway may have been the racing strip. The 8/19/62 newspaper racing ad states that the races were being held on the "north end" of Master Field. So, this east-west northmost runway was likely used for racing.
One of the difficulties in pinpointing a racing strip on old abandoned airfields is trying to determine which runway was used for racing. Without documentation that tells which runway was used, one has to look at old aerial photos to see if there are darkened tire track marks which might indicate a drag strip starting line. There is some indication on aerial photos that the northern west-east runway may have been the racing strip. The 8/19/62 newspaper racing ad states that the races were being held on the "north end" of Master Field. So, this east-west northmost runway was likely used for racing.

More in Florida