Sunland Drag Strip (El Paso, Texas)

This strip was on the edge of El Paso, but its airport sat just inside New Mexico. It opened in 1959 as a private field called Cristo Rey Airport, near the Sunland Park horse track. Uranga Development Corp took it over in February 1960 and renamed it Westside Airport, but it couldn’t compete with El Paso International Airport, which was in the middle of a big federally funded expansion, and soon shut down. In 1961 it became an NHRA-sanctioned drag strip, 3,800 feet long and 63 feet wide. Red River Dragways Inc. of Morehead, Minnesota, headed by president George Holland, was behind it, and Al Goodwin was named manager. Airport buildings were to become concession stands and car storage. Races were set for the first and third Sundays to avoid clashing with the Ascarate strip, with an opening date of September 3, 1961. Car Craft’s June 1961 NHRA list, though, showed it running the second and fourth Sundays with the El Paso Timing Association in charge.

Sportsman classes and Super Stock paid the bills, but the track booked feature races now and then. Eddie Hill set a track record of 169 MPH before 1,000 spectators on January 13, 1963. On February 10, three top fuel dragsters were on the card: Eddie Hill, George Brazil and Jimmy Nix. A March 10 match race between two A fuel dragsters included Texas state champion Ed Mabry, and on June 9 Bob Smith drove “The Untouchable” jet car built by Romeo Palamides.