Skyline Drag Strip (New Castle)

Mike Pollio, owner of Hickory Speedway, built this strip in 1961 on Youngstown Road (Route 422), seven miles west of New Castle. Mid-1960s newspapers put it five miles out, and a 1972 report said four. It was a blacktop quarter-mile with bleachers for more than 2,000. Art Arfons and his “Green Monster” jet car headlined the opening race on June 25, 1961. A three-day meet ran July 2-4, 1961, and on the last day almost 2,000 fans watched more than 160 racers. Buddy Ferris and Don Blockinger set a track record of 10.91 at 140 MPH in their Olds-powered dragster on July 9. Featured racers brought in the crowds. In 1961 they included Otie Taylor of Akron with his A/R, a class winner at the 1960 U.S. Nationals, and in the mid-’60s Tom Sturm, Dick Landy and the Ramchargers, among others. The New Castle Drag Strip name was in use by 1963. By at least 1969 the strip had switched to eighth-mile racing and held Friday night races, and Gil Walters was promoter. A Christmas tree replaced the flag starter in 1969. In 1972 the track raced Wednesday and Friday nights and Sunday afternoons under National Association Automobile Racing (NAAR) rules, and offered a $1,000 purse on Sunday, May 14. Nothing has turned up about it after the 1972 season.