Rebel Drag Strip/Birmingham Drag Strip (Bessemer)
Nothing leftNothing left No longer racing, and nothing of the track remains.
- Trophies awarded in 29 classes
- Ed Garlits set an Alabama gas dragster record of 149 mph at the 1957 state championship
- Raced
- 1955-59
- State
- Alabama
- What's left
- The site was never redeveloped, but every trace of the strip has been removed.
- On the site today
- Commercial area
- First race
- by Thanksgiving Day 1955
- Location
- Next to the Bessemer Airport, northeast of Grant Street and Airport Lane Southwest
- Elevation
- 528 ft (161 m)
- Coordinates
- 33.36532, -86.98153
Drag racing started next to the Bessemer Airport by Thanksgiving Day 1955, and for just a few months the strip was called Rebel Drag Strip. The airport, a dirt airstrip first called Durham Airport, was built sometime between 1945 and 1947 and renamed Bessemer Airport after 1954. Races ran every Sunday afternoon, with trophies in 29 classes. Early racers included Bill Patton, T. J. Williams and Bobby Sylvester. In June 1956 Johnny Burrell set a track record of 13.1 in his Cad-powered Model T roadster. A powder puff class for women started in July 1956, and Peggy Fry won it in her ‘57 Ford on February 10, 1957. Dwight Shoults took top eliminator in his Olds-powered ‘32 roadster on April 7, 1957. At the state championship race on May 10, Ed Garlits set an Alabama record for gas dragsters at 149 mph. The old airport site, northeast of Grant Street and Airport Lane Southwest, is a commercial area today.
More in Alabama
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. 3-B Drag Strip (Newton) 1961-64
- Active Still racing today. Alabama International Dragway (Steele) 1994-present
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Andalusia Dragway 1963-78
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Atmore Motorplex 1976-2025
- Active Still racing today. Baileyton "Good Time" Drag Strip 1966-present
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Barbour Drag Strip (Clayton) 1961
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Bibb Raceway (Centreville) 1966-?
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Big A Dragway (Abbeville) 1964-85?
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Burnt Valley Drag Strip (Ragland) 1957-1970s
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Capital City Dragway (Montgomery) 1972-77
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Carbon Hill Drag Strip 1969
- Closed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there. Chatom International Raceway 1988-97