Selma Drag Strip

This track was four miles east of the Selma city limits on Highway 14, just east of Sel-Field, which became Selma’s municipal airport in the early 1960s. It was 2,000 feet long and 26 feet wide. H. “Speedy” Rollins built and owned it, and Kenneth Scott ran the races until Harold Sharpton replaced him as manager in August 1958. The opening was set for March 30, 1958, and racing was under way by June 15 at the latest. A Labor Day race on September 1, 1958, drew a big crowd. W. D. Bennett took top eliminator in his ‘55 Chevy, winning a $26 war bond, plus a trophy for the factory hot rod class. There were seven classes, including one for women, won by Joyce Lockhart in a ‘58 Chevy. Motorcyclists gathered for a race at the “Old Selma Drag Strip” on December 25, 1964. The Swedish magazine Start & Strip included it in a 1968 list of 325 U.S. drag strips. Nothing else has been found, and searches of aerial photos and topo maps didn’t locate it.