Saugus Field (Newhall)

Saugus Field, also called Newhall Airport or the 6-S Ranch Airport, had a single northwest-southeast paved runway east of today’s McBean Parkway and Del Monte Drive. The first drag race was on April 1, 1951, and races ran every Sunday after that. The San Fernando Drag Association ran them and gave weekly trophies in six car and three motorcycle classes. Tom Cobb set the track record of 115 mph on May 20, 1951. Newspapers reported that 1955 NHRA champion Calvin Rice ran 149.29 mph on the Saugus dirt strip on March 11, 1956. Races were weekly for much of 1956, and on December 16 Emory Cook took top eliminator in the Cook-Bedwell dragster at 153.64 mph, on dirt. One old-timer recalled that Saugus was one of the first strips to run night drags, using a giant searchlight aimed down the track. He said Lou Baney ran it, and plenty of dry lakes racers stopped to run on their way home from El Mirage. Racing ended when the airport’s owner sold the field. The site is now heavily developed with no trace of the airfield.