Star-Lite 25 Drag Strip/Ware Shoals Dragway

Ray Gambrell built a dirt drag strip behind his Star-Lite Drive-in on Highway 25, four and a half miles north of Ware Shoals. The first race was on April 19, 1958, and races ran every Saturday at first. Around June Gambrell added mercury vapor lights so the track could race Thursday and Saturday nights. There were six stock classes and five gas classes. Top eliminator won $25, and class winners could choose a trophy or $10. Keith Garrison of Greenville won top eliminator on June 14, 1958, in a 1933 Ford coupe with a fuel-injected ‘53 Chevy engine, and Bobby Saxon won on June 21 in his ‘58 Plymouth Savoy. On June 28 Jim Murphy of Greenville set a track record of 13 seconds in his ‘33 Ford before 300 fans. In 1959 Gambrell paved the dirt strip, extended the shutdown area to take in a big 30-degree hill at the end to slow the cars, and built new restrooms, a timing tower and a concession stand. The old Starlite strip is today’s Ware Shoals Dragway, on Highway 25 between Greenville and Ware Shoals, which as of 2017 was an IHRA-sanctioned eighth-mile track. The Gambrell family has owned it since it opened.