Sanair International Drag Strip (St-Pie-de-Bagot)
ActiveActive Still racing today.
Also known as St. Pie de Bagot Drag Strip
Motorsports complex in Saint-Pie, east of Montreal, with a drag strip and road course, dating to 1970. Today it runs weekly Friday drags and monthly Sunday quarter-mile and half-mile events.
- 17,000 spectators came to the opening on June 21, 1970
- Hosted the NHRA Grandnationals from 1971 through 1992
- NHRA dropped the event after Canada banned leaded race fuel
- Raced
- 1970-present
- Province
- Quebec
- Raced on
- Built as a drag strip
- First race
- June 21, 1970
- Track
- 1/4 mile (also runs 1/2 mile events)
- Address
- 669 Le Bas du Petit Rang St-Francois
Saint-Pie, QC J0H 1W0 - People
- Henri Biard, first owner (1970)
- Jacques Guertin, owner (by 1972)
- Sanction
- NHRA
- Elevation
- 148 ft (45 m)
- Coordinates
- 45.53065, -72.88219
- Contact
- sanair.ca (450) 772-6400
Big races
Drag du vendredi (Friday night drags)
Weekly Friday night drag sessions open to street and race cars.
Quarter-mile and half-mile Sunday drags
Sunday events where cars run the standard quarter mile or a full half mile using the long straight.
History
Henri Biard was the first owner of the strip, which in late 1970 was called St. Pie de Bagot Drag Strip. A crowd of 17,000 packed the track when it opened on June 21, 1970. In 1971 it hosted the NHRA Le Grandnationals, the first time the event was held in Canada, and Pat Dakin, Sam Miller and Ronnie Sox won the three top pro classes. Jacques Guertin owned the track by at least 1972. The Grandnationals ran there through 1992, when NHRA dropped the event after Canada banned leaded race fuel. That hurt every kind of racing at the multi-track complex, and the facility fell into disrepair. Racing at Sanair now is mostly Friday night drags in the summer, kart events and spectator events such as hot lapping and track days.
Background
Sanair Super Speedway in Saint-Pie is a full motorsports park. Besides the quarter-mile strip it has a 1.329 km triangular oval, a smaller oval, a mini-oval and a karting course. The strip lost its NHRA national event in 1992, when Canadian rules banning leaded race fuel pushed the NHRA out of the country, and the ovals now run the ACT Castrol series.
More in Quebec
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Alvan Accélération Dragway (St. Tite) 1971-81, 1995-2014?
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Autodrome Chicoutimi/Autodrome St-Paul 1994-96
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Autodrome de Mont Laurier 1979-85
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Bouvrette Speedway (St. Jérôme) 1960
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Cedar Drag Strip (Ste. Anne de Bellevue) 1962-ca. 1966?
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Cedars Dragway (Dominique) 1966-79
- Active Still racing today. Circuit au Bosquet 1996-present
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Circuit Riverside Speedway Ste-Croix ca. 1971?-?, 2000-?
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Coaticook Dragway 1968?-70?
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Kempton Park (La Prairie) 1962
- Status unknown Closed, but nobody has checked how much of the site survives, or the exact spot was never found. Lavaltrie Dragway 1970-?
- Active Still racing today. Luskville Dragway 1969-present