Paris Drag Strip

Jerry Bob Stephens built, owned and ran this strip six miles east of Paris, with races every Sunday. On September 19, 1965, the Dingman Brothers beat a big field in front of a large crowd to win top stock eliminator in their ‘62 Chevrolet, and they did it again on October 10. On November 7, 1965, August “Hands” Hartkopf was billed in a match race against the “Golden Gasser” of Tyler. Starting in 1967 the strip held the Texas State Gas Championships for gassers every August.

In the early to mid-1980s the track tried bringing in big-name acts to lift attendance. On June 4, 1982, Bill Mattio ran a best of 4.41 seconds in his “Chicago Fire” jet dragster, against a previous strip record of 7.41. His car sat so low that the time may not have been accurate, and the strip only recognized Doug Brown’s 5.39 as the record, set on July 23, 1982, in the “Wildfire” jet dragster before 1,000 fans. Tommy Ivo made exhibition runs in his four-engine dragster on Friday, July 16, 1982. Charlie Hand’s “Lone Star Lightning” jet dragster lowered the record to 5.24 seconds on June 15, 1984, and on June 7, 1985, two top alcohol funny cars ran a match race, the first funny cars ever on the track. After that the strip went back to bracket racers, which turned out to be its bread and butter. The NHRA-sanctioned track closed after a race in November 2015, and owner Randy Boren reopened it for the 2017 season.