Monroe County Fairgrounds (Henrietta)
Nothing leftNothing left No longer racing, and nothing of the track remains.
- Speeds were timed through a 52.8-foot trap on the oval's front straight
- Raced
- 1958-72
- State
- New York
- What's left
- The site was redeveloped and nothing of the strip remains.
- Raced on
- Fairgrounds
- First race
- May 10, 1958
- Surface
- Dirt
- Location
- Southwest of East Henrietta Road and Calkins Road, Henrietta
- People
- Ron Smith, strip manager (1958)
- Knights and Idlers car clubs, helped run races (1958)
- Sanction
- NASCAR
- Elevation
- 549 ft (167 m)
- Coordinates
- 43.06762, -77.61629
NASCAR-sponsored drag races were first held on the half-mile dirt oval at the Monroe County Fairgrounds in Henrietta on May 10, 1958, open to stock street cars and motorcycles. A 52.8-foot speed trap was set up in front of the judges’ stand on the front straight. Mike Viola was fastest at 71 MPH on his ‘57 Harley Davidson. The Knights and Idlers car clubs helped run it. In late June the races moved from Saturday afternoons to Wednesday nights. Ron Smith of Phelps set a track record of 68.794 MPH in his ‘57 Corvette on July 2, and Lavern Tuttle beat it the next week at 70.175 in his ‘58 Corvette. NASCAR made Smith strip manager that year. About 150 cars came each week, and Bill Rodgers and Ed Sarazyn won often. The fairgrounds stood southwest of East Henrietta Road and Calkins Road in Henrietta. The strip was on a 1968 list of 325 U.S. drag strips in the Swedish magazine Start & Strip.
