Orange Airport

The Orange Kiwanis Club sponsored Sunday drag races at Orange Airport for eight years. A race ran May 23, 1954, though it isn’t known if that was the first that year. John Marron managed the track from 1957 to 1961, and around 1959-61 it was NHRA-sanctioned and raced on the third Sunday from May through October. A Blue Law ruling by Commissioner of Public Safety Frank Giles stopped the Sunday races in 1962, so in 1963 the club held six events on third Saturdays. Over nine years of racing the club netted $30,400 and gave thousands of dollars toward food and clothing for the needy, dental work, eyeglasses, medical care and scholarships. It still hoped to get the legislature to allow Sunday racing. The airport was built in 1929 and officially activated in 1940.