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Three Rivers Stadium (Pittsburgh)

ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.

Raced
1971
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
Between the new baseball and football stadiums; Heinz Field is just west
First race
July 2, 1971
Last race
July 3, 1971
Location
Inside Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh
Elevation
731 ft (223 m)
Coordinates
40.44693, -80.01413

Three Rivers Stadium was brand new in 1970, and on the nights of July 2-3, 1971, it hosted the first Tri-State Stock Drag Racing Championships. Top stock-class racers from strips in three states raced inside the stadium for trophies and a $1,500 purse. The program also had the U.S. Wheelstanding Championships, a car show, a horse-versus-car race and fireworks, among other events. Crowds were thin, and photos of the racing show very few people in the seats. The stadium was demolished in 2001 to make way for new baseball and football stadiums on either side of it. Heinz Field is just west of where it stood.

1993 aerial view of Three Rivers Stadium
1993 aerial view of Three Rivers Stadium
Jim Donnelly wrote, "There was some guy from Texas who had what he thought was a great idea. He tried to bring all the drag-racing tracks, which were located out in the boondocks, into the population centers, where the fans were supposedly located. He pitched it all over the country and nobody would go along with it except for Three Rivers Stadium, which was where the Pirates and Steelers played then. They booked this stadium drag race for July 2-3, 1971. The race track was steel, 1,500 plates of 12-guage, diamond-plate steel, the stuff they used for steps on trucks, laid across the baseball field, with no treatment on it for traction. This had to be the dumbest idea ever. The cars couldn't get any traction to begin with, and since Three Rivers was down by the water, as the evening wore on, it got dewy and the track became slipperier and slipperier. The track was way less than an eighth of a mile to begin with, and as it got wetter, the 'race' became a burnout contest. There were a couple of big-block Camaros that ended up going out the door at the other end of the track sideways, into the parking lot, although nobody hit anything. There were maybe 100 cars on hand, but as you can see from the photo, no spectators. It was a flop. This was never tried again anywhere in the country." (Hemmings Muscle Machines, Mar. 2008, p42)
Jim Donnelly wrote, "There was some guy from Texas who had what he thought was a great idea. He tried to bring all the drag-racing tracks, which were located out in the boondocks, into the population centers, where the fans were supposedly located. He pitched it all over the country and nobody would go along with it except for Three Rivers Stadium, which was where the Pirates and Steelers played then. They booked this stadium drag race for July 2-3, 1971. The race track was steel, 1,500 plates of 12-guage, diamond-plate steel, the stuff they used for steps on trucks, laid across the baseball field, with no treatment on it for traction. This had to be the dumbest idea ever. The cars couldn't get any traction to begin with, and since Three Rivers was down by the water, as the evening wore on, it got dewy and the track became slipperier and slipperier. The track was way less than an eighth of a mile to begin with, and as it got wetter, the 'race' became a burnout contest. There were a couple of big-block Camaros that ended up going out the door at the other end of the track sideways, into the parking lot, although nobody hit anything. There were maybe 100 cars on hand, but as you can see from the photo, no spectators. It was a flop. This was never tried again anywhere in the country." (Hemmings Muscle Machines, Mar. 2008, p42)

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