Darana Dragway (Milan)

History

In October 1963 London Township rezoned 136 acres about five miles south of Milan, where J. Keith Metty and Clifton Riley planned a 3,600-foot drag strip. Old-timers date the strip to 1963, but newspapers show no racing before 1964. Cliff Riley was one of the first owners, possibly the first, in the ’60s and ’70s. On July 5, 1964, both parachutes on Bob Smith’s jet dragster tore loose and he crashed through the end barrier into a wheat field at more than 200 mph, breaking many bones. Don Nicholson set a world record of 7.48 at 186.40 mph in his S/XS Mercury Cougar on July 7, 1968. Don Garlits beat Dick LaHaie for the Pro Dragster title at the IHRA Northern Winston Nationals on July 24, 1977, won again in 1978 at 237.46 mph against Johnny Abbott, and made it three straight in 1979. Milan hosted the Northern Nationals for fifteen years, through 1989.

In early 1989 Bill Kapolka bought the track from Cliff and Barbara Riley for $1.75 million. He switched from IHRA to NHRA in 1990, calling IHRA a bunch of goofballs who helped push him into Chapter 11 in April 1991. IHRA and the Rileys sued, but the cases were frozen pending the bankruptcy ruling. Riley had taken only a $500,000 down payment and said Kapolka owed him over a million dollars, now claimed he’d overpaid, and that he wished he’d never sold. Racing went on through the disputes, and Kapolka was still owner of record through at least 2003. In place of national events the track ran high school drags, car shows, swap meets, nostalgia races, rock festivals and mud racing. NHRA sanction began in 1993, and it was Division 3 Track of the Year in 1999.

In 2003 it went back to IHRA and hosted the first Motor City Nationals, which it ran for six years before returning to NHRA. The strip has a 150-foot concrete starting pad, runs 3,520 feet, and ends in a 400-foot sand trap. Bankruptcy shut it for all of 2021, and racers feared it was gone for good, but Perry Merlo and Harold Bullock bought it for $3 million at the end of December 2021 and reopened it under NHRA in 2022.