Unnamed drag strip (Pleasant Grove)

John Frampton, a Pleasant Grove police officer, organized drag races on a trial basis so young people could race under supervision. They ran on a closed-off road near the county dump south of town, and Geneva Steel Company let spectators park in a field it owned nearby. The first race, on Sunday, July 30, 1972, had thirty cars, and Mike Shannon was overall winner. By the second week the crowd had grown to 1,500, with 58 cars. Two weeks later, with the races’ popularity clear, Frampton asked the Orem City Council to help create a county-wide drag strip.

Chris Carter organized Saturday afternoon races in 1973, with six classes on a handicap system and trophies for class winners. On Saturday, September 8, 1973, Salt Lake County racers took on Utah County racers, Allen Strasburg among them. Looking for a permanent home, the group heard from the owners of the gravel airport in Cedar Valley that racing could happen there if users blacktopped the runway. Frampton asked cities to help pay for a strip, and the county offered to match whatever the cities put in. Racing returned in 1974 at what was called Roundabout Raceway, with the races nicknamed the “Dump Yard Nationals.” In July 1974 unhappy residents of Manila complained to the Pleasant Grove city council, which seems to have ended the drag races. Off-road drag racing on dirt, or mud, continued at the same spot every Saturday in the winter through at least 1978, sponsored by the Pleasant Grove City Recreation Department.