New London Dragway (Forest)
ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.
Also known as New London Airport
- Shared the site with an airport, so the strip was prepared before each race
- Raced
- 1958-2016
- State
- Virginia
- What's left
- A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
- On the site today
- Airport owned by Liberty University
- Raced on
- An airport runway
- First race
- possibly 1958
- Last race
- 2016
- Track
- 1/4 mile, later 1/8 mile
- Location
- New London Airport, Forest
- People
- Rucker Tibbs, founder (1958)
- Eastside Dragway owners, leaseholders (1991)
- Kelley Powell, track operator (2016)
- Sanction
- IHRA, NHRA
- Elevation
- 800 ft (244 m)
- Coordinates
- 37.27210, -79.33714
The track’s Facebook page and website say racing began in 1958, started by local pilot Rucker Tibbs, though that early date hasn’t been confirmed. Hot Rod listed an unnamed NHRA-sanctioned strip in Lynchburg in 1960, and Car Craft listed this one by name in 1961. That year the site became New London Airport, which meant the strip had to be prepared each night before a race. On October 6, 1963, Troy Hall of Christiansburg took top eliminator on his Atlas Norton motorcycle, running 101 MPH in 12.72 seconds. Ads in the late 1970s invited people to take a crack at the track in Forest, Virginia. The track had no owner after the 1990 season, and in 1991 the owners of Eastside Dragway leased it. It started as an NHRA quarter mile in the 1960s and ended as an IHRA eighth-mile strip. In 2016 Liberty University bought the airport. Before the 2017 season, operator Kelley Powell decided not to reopen, mainly because of insurance requirements.
Background
New London Airport is a public-use general aviation field about six miles southwest of Forest in Bedford County. Liberty University owns it.
Video
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