Darana Raceway (Hebron)
ActiveActive Still racing today.
Also known as National Trail Raceway
National Trail Raceway operates under Darana Raceway - Hebron branding and was offered for auction in October 2026.
- Home of the NHRA Springnationals starting in 1972
- Eighteen arrests followed a rock and bottle throwing incident at the 1975 Springnationals
- Raced
- 1964-present
- State
- Ohio
- Raced on
- Built as a drag strip
- First race
- June 21, 1964
- Track
- 1/4 mile
- Address
- 2650 National Road SW
Hebron, OH 43025 - People
- Clark and Grace Rader, owners (1963-)
- Clark Rader Sr., Ben Rader and Clark Rader Jr., builders (1963)
- NHRA, owner (1996?)
- Sanction
- IHRA
- Elevation
- 900 ft (274 m)
- Coordinates
- 39.96315, -82.55095
- Contact
- nationaltrailraceway.com
Big races
Mopar Nationals
One of the largest all-Mopar gatherings in the country, mixing a huge car show with heads-up and bracket drag racing.
Halloween Hootout
Big end-of-season bracket race with Halloween themes, drawing racers from across the Midwest.
Hillbilly Nationals
Demolition drag race where beat-up cars race side by side and are allowed to make contact.
IHRA Outlaw Nitro Series and big-money bracket races
The 2026 calendar included an IHRA nitro round in June plus promoter-run bracket races paying 20K to 75K.
Hot Rod Drag Week
A drag-and-drive: racers drive their street cars from track to track over several days and race at each stop.
History
Clark and Grace Rader bought the 174-acre Vera Peters farm between Hebron and Kirkersville, a mile west of Luray, to build a $200,000 drag strip. Clark Rader Sr. and sons Ben and Clark Jr. started construction in September 1963. The site was just off U.S. Route 40, then known as the National Road or National Trail, which gave the track its name. As first built the strip was 3,500 feet long and 60 feet wide. It opened on June 21, 1964. NHRA’s Springnationals came to National Trail for the first time in 1972. Eighteen people were arrested at the 1975 Springnationals after rocks and bottles were thrown. NHRA bought the track from the Rader family, likely in 1996. The Springnationals was later renamed the Pontiac Excitement Nationals and then the Pontiac Performance Nationals.
Video
More in Ohio
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Akron Municipal Airport 1952-59
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Barberton Speedway 1954
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Beechmont Dragway (Cincinnati) 1957-61
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Clinton County Air Force Base (Wilmington) 1958
- Nothing left No longer racing, and nothing of the track remains. Columbus Drag Strip (Reynoldsburg) 1956-57
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Dahio Airport Drag Strip (Dayton) 1956-60
- Active Still racing today. Darana Dragway 42 1960-present
- Nothing left No longer racing, and nothing of the track remains. Dayton Speedway 1961
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Don Scott Airfield (Columbus) 1955
- Active Still racing today. Edgewater Sports Park (Cleves) 1958-present
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. El Dora Speedway (New Weston) 1961
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Farmersville Drag Strip 1955