Pittsfield Municipal Airport
ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.
- Over 5,000 spectators at the first race
- A CAA rule on single-runway airports ended racing in 1958
- Raced
- 1957
- State
- Massachusetts
- What's left
- A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
- Raced on
- An airport runway
- First race
- June 9, 1957
- Last race
- October 13, 1957
- Location
- Pittsfield Municipal Airport
- People
- Pittsfield Kiwanis Club, sponsor (1957)
- Piston Poppers car club, helped run races (1957)
- Elevation
- 1,162 ft (354 m)
- Coordinates
- 42.42754, -73.29181
The Pittsfield Kiwanis Club sponsored a drag race and car show at the airport on June 9, 1957, with the Piston Poppers car club helping run the races. More than 5,000 people paid 50 cents each, raising over $2,000 for Kiwanis projects including the Girls’ Club camp Witawentin on Onota Lake and nursing scholarships. A second race on October 13, 1957 drew 190 cars and 4,500 spectators and cleared more than $800. A race planned for June 1, 1958 was canceled because a new CAA rule barred airports with only one runway from closing for racing.
Background
Pittsfield Municipal Airport is two miles west of the city and is a general aviation field today. When the 1957 race ran, both Mohawk and Northeast were still flying DC-3s in and out of Pittsfield.
More in Massachusetts
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Beverly Municipal Airport 1954
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. New Bedford Municipal Airport 1957
- Nothing left No longer racing, and nothing of the track remains. New England Dragway South at Norwood Arena 1966-69
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Orange Airport 1954-61, 1963-65