Pleasant Grove Drag Strip/Drag City (Springfield)

ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.

Raced
1960-ca. 1973
State
Illinois
What's left
You can still spot it in aerial photos, or broken pieces of the track surface remain.
Track
1/8 mile
Surface
Paved
Location
Route 29, four miles east of Springfield and two miles west of Rochester
People
  • Carroll Eugene Heissinger, owner
Sanction
AHRA
Elevation
581 ft (177 m)
Coordinates
39.76892, -89.57638

Carroll Eugene Heissinger owned this paved eighth-mile strip, first called Pleasant Grove Drag Strip and renamed Drag City by 1966 at the latest. It was on Route 29, four miles east of Springfield and two miles west of Rochester. Drag City is said to be where the “Chi-Town Hustler” first did its long smoky burnouts, which started a trend in funny car racing. An AHRA divisional points meet ran there on July 6-7, 1968.

Video

8mm video footage of Drag City in the 1960s, 2:08 minutes, no sound Watch on YouTube

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