Splane Memorial Airport (Oil City)

Closed

The public race on July 29, 1956, drew more than 1,500 spectators
A statewide ban on drag racing at airports in August 1956 ended racing there

Raced: 1956
State: Pennsylvania
What's left: A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
On the site today: City leaf mulching and composting site
Raced on: An airport runway
First race: June 17, 1956
Last race: July 29, 1956
Track: 2,160-foot runway
Surface: Paved runway
Location: About four miles northwest of Oil City
People: Draggin' Dragons car club, organizer (1956)
Elevation: 1,549 ft (472 m)
Coordinates: 41.48195, -79.74332

The Draggin’ Dragons car club held three drag races at the old airport. The first was on June 17, 1956, and at the second, on July 8, Dick Benson’s ‘56 Chevy was quickest with a 17-second pass. Those two were for club members only. The third, on July 29, was open to the public and drew more than 1,500 spectators to watch 40 racers. Racers paid a $1 entry fee, and admission and pit passes were 50 cents. Robert Doverspike won the modified stock division in his Corvette-powered ‘56 Chevy. In August 1956 the Pennsylvania Aeronautics Commission ruled that no airport in the state could hold drag races, which ended racing at Splane. The airport was built in the late 1920s about four miles northwest of Oil City, with a paved 2,160-foot east-west runway, and the city owned it by 1945. The city closed it in 1972 and now uses the site only for mulching and composting leaves from its leaf pickup.

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