Norwalk Dragway/Summit Motorsports Park

History

Construction started in mid-July 1963 on a three-quarter-mile drag strip on Route 18 at Route 601, two miles east of Norwalk. Walter Herzog and Vincent Schubert leased 100 acres to Walvin, Inc., for the $150,000 project. It opened paved, 3,750 feet long and 60 feet wide, with another 1,000 feet of leveled shutdown. Norwalk Dragway held its first race on October 13, 1963, as the only NHRA-sanctioned strip between West Salem and Toledo, with no seating or concessions that short first season. At the second race, October 20, Bill Tibboles of Bellevue drove the Tibboles-Shane Olds-powered dragster to top eliminator at 9.07 and 164.53 mph.

A two-story timing tower went up for 1964, and weekly Sunday racing began May 10. Four national records were set at an NHRA regional on August 8-9, 1964, when Gordon Collett ran an A/GD ET record of 8.35, tying Jimmy Nix, and Joe Schubeck set a track speed record of 187.88 mph. On September 13, 1964, Kostrab & Toll beat Schubeck and Tibboles upset national record holder Nix, and Schubeck ran 190.66 mph in time trials for a new track record. In 1966 the track was AHRA sanctioned, and the July 24 Grand American drew over 500 cars that set fifteen AHRA national records. Wayne Fanndon of Toronto won top fuel and Dick Harrell the super stock funny car class.

The track went back to NHRA in January 1968, with Walter Herzog managing. Goodyear briefly tested tires there in the early 1970s. In 1973 the track was sold to Wayne Sergeant and Bill Bader Sr. Sergeant pulled out the next year, leaving Bader as sole owner, and the track reopened on April 28, 1974. In 2006 Bill Bader Jr. signed a multi-year deal with Summit Racing Equipment to rename Norwalk Raceway Park as Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park from the 2007 season. It has been NHRA sanctioned since 2007 and hosts NHRA’s Summit Racing Equipment Nationals.