Pueblo Air Base Drag Strip
Status unknownStatus unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found.
- Jack Moss raised the strip record to 137.19 mph in 1956
- Raced
- 1952-59
- State
- Colorado
- What's left
- How much of the site survives hasn't been checked yet.
- Raced on
- A military airfield
- First race
- early 1952
- Surface
- Runway, then paved strip (1957)
- Location
- Pueblo Army Air Base, six miles east of Pueblo; from 1957 a half mile west of the airport
- People
- Pueblo Piston Pushers, operator (1952)
- Pueblo Purple Shafters, operator (1955)
- Pueblo Road Runners, operator and builder of the 1957 strip (1956-at least 1959)
- Sanction
- NHRA
- Elevation
- 4,698 ft (1,432 m)
- Coordinates
- 38.29264, -104.51373
The Pueblo Piston Pushers car club ran drag races on the diagonal runway at the Pueblo Army Air Base, six miles east of Pueblo. In early 1952 only club members could race, but other clubs were let in soon after. Entry fees went into a fund to care for anyone hurt racing. The Pueblo Purple Shafters car club got permission to run races in 1955, and the Pueblo Road Runners car club ran them in 1956. Crowds sometimes reached almost 900, and racers came from all over Colorado and as far as Texas. Meets were NHRA sanctioned. Jack Moss of Amarillo set a strip record of 129 mph on June 2, 1956 and later raised it to 137.19 mph. In late 1956 the city decided to reopen the airport for commercial use, which ended drag racing there. In 1957 the city leased the Road Runners land half a mile west of the airport for a new strip. Club members started grading in mid-July with help from local businesses, and the new paved strip was ready in mid-September 1957. It ran through at least 1959.
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