Pel State Dragway (Opelousas)

The St. Landry Parish Police Jury rented a runway at St. Landry Airport in Opelousas to the Lafayette Rod and Custom Club for $500 a year, for use once or twice a month during eight months of the year, with rent to go up if the races did well. The strip opened May 4, 1958 with 132 racers and 2,200 spectators, and Joe ‘Q-Ball’ Wale had top speed at 121.62 mph in his dragster. Races ran on the second and fourth Sundays, run by W. H. and Jayne David and the Pel State Timing Association, also called the Pelican State Automotive Club, under NHRA sanction. In 1959-60 races were on the first and third Sundays.

A short history says the crew had to set up and tear down all the equipment at every event, and only a temporary wire fence, no guardrail, kept spectators back. On May 15, 1960, 150 cars raced. On January 15, 1961, Al Waits ran 168.53 mph in his A dragster, the fastest ever at Pel State. Complaints from pilots led the parish to end racing after 1969. It turned down a one-time race in 1979 but let Louis Doucet hold one on June 8, 1980, the last drag race at the airport.