Prospect Field (Fort Lauderdale)

Drag races were held on this old WWII field, named West Prospect Satellite Field in 1941. The city was pushed into allowing racing after a 17-year-old boy was killed in an illegal race on the field. The Broward Auto Club Drifters got permission to use the old north-south runway, arranged insurance through NHRA, and held their first race on February 12, 1956. The club ran things responsibly, paying for police, fire and ambulance coverage out of gate receipts. In June 1956 the CAA ordered racing stopped after a pilot complained about wooden posts the club had put up along the edge of the north-south runway. The club hadn’t known they were a hazard and removed them as soon as it was told. That same month a city official worried that the club’s $300,000 of insurance wasn’t enough to protect the city. The club’s record seems to have counted in its favor, and racing went on into 1957. The Pabst-Gatti & Windish Railbird dragster set the 1956 track record of 136.44 mph, which stood until Don Garlits ran 144.00 mph on March 31, 1957 to win the Florida State trophy. When the club’s contract expired on August 1, 1957, racing stopped, and the club moved to Amelia Earhart Field in Miami until 1959, when it got approval to race at Davie’s Forman Field. The airport is now Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.