Salt Lake Raceway

In early 1960 drag racer Gary Nielsen and some businessmen began building a quarter-mile strip on the north side of 2100 South at 4900 West, with bleachers for 3,000. They aimed to open May 29 and race every Sunday, and once it opened, drag racing moved here from Airport No. 2 in West Jordan. The first reported race was June 12, 1960, when Fred Anderson of Logan set the track record of 168 MPH at 8.98 seconds. He raised it to 169 MPH on June 19, when Sonny Schoenfeld took top gas eliminator and the C dragster trophy. Dan Noorda won top eliminator on June 26 at 156 MPH in his Cobra Special. At the second twilight meet, on August 13, Dan and Art Noorda took top eliminator, but Nielsen ran the meet’s top speed of 153.75 MPH. On August 20, 1960, in front of 900 fans, Ernie Hashim of California set a track record of 175 MPH in the Hashim-Hylton-Crossley dragster, beating Anderson’s 171. Walt Arfons’s “Green Monster” jet dragster ran 140 MPH but had mechanical trouble. The track hosted an NHRA regional meet on September 11, 1960.

The 1961 season opened with a better shutdown area and gravel in the pits and spectator areas. On July 16, 1961, the Cusic-Balhoff-Bynum Chevy dragster from Long Beach set a gas dragster record of 149.01 MPH. Lights went in and Saturday night racing began in June 1962. On May 17, 1964, Bill Leon was killed in qualifying when he lost control near the finish at about 125 MPH, and the track held a benefit meet for his family in June. The 1965 season opened April 25 with a new return road, probably to placate unhappy racers. A week later, on May 2, Bonneville Drag Strip opened two miles east, and all the spectators and most of the racers went there. Salt Lake Raceway tried to hang on that summer with Friday night races, since it couldn’t compete with Bonneville on Sundays or Saturday nights, and booked Gary Cagle and his national record ‘23 T fuel roadster for Friday, July 16.