McMinnville Airport

The Columbia Timing Association raced on a runway at McMinnville Municipal Airport by at least 1960, every other Sunday from mid-May to a two-day finale on September 24-25. The season ran May through October. In 1962 racing resumed on one of the landing strips on May 13, every other Sunday, sponsored by the McMinnville Jaycees and the Columbia Timing Association. Known as McMinnville Drag Strip, it ran under NHRA sanction. Five thousand people came to the season opener on May 24, 1964, where the Sevela & Sons AA/FD won top eliminator at 192 mph and Ernie Hall won top gas. In late 1966 the airport commission banned drag racing because it left only one runway for planes, and the Chamber of Commerce asked it to reconsider. The 1968 Swedish magazine Start & Strip still listed a Columbia Timing Association Drag Strip, but racing at the airport had ended in 1966.