Road Knights Drag Strip (Haleyville)

The 19-member Road Knights car club built a drag strip between Haleyville and Bear Creek in 1957. The club’s work on the half-mile track and the road to it suggests both were dirt. Newspapers placed it near Bear Creek, two miles off Highway 5 after turning east across the railroad tracks at the Winmar poultry houses. Spectators paid admission to help cover costs and were promised plenty of excitement. About 400 people watched thirty cars at the first race on August 11, 1957, where Glen Vickery took top eliminator and a $25 prize with a 16-second run. On October 13, 1957, Voyd Watts won top eliminator and set a track record of 14.50.

With the Haleyville Jaycees, the club put on a benefit drag race on August 20, 1960, about five miles northwest of Haleyville just off the Bear Creek Highway, giving all proceeds to the Jaycee Christmas fund for underprivileged children. On August 25, 1962, the Lions Club held a charity drag race at the Road Knights Drag Strip, which was then one mile south of Haleyville on Highway 5 toward Delmar. Those locations also point to dirt strips. Old aerial photos and topo maps turned up nothing.