Tri-Cities Airport/Tri-Cities Drag-Way (Endicott)
ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.
- The 1961 opener ran under portable lights and headlights until 2 a.m.
- Drew Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney and the "Hurst Hemi Under Glass"
- Raced
- 1956, 1961-69
- State
- New York
- What's left
- A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
- Raced on
- An airport runway
- First race
- spring 1956
- Last race
- 1969 season
- Track
- 1/5 mile (1956)
- Surface
- Runway
- Location
- Tri-Cities airport, Endicott
- People
- Southern Tier Timing Association, organizer (1956)
- Bob Connelly, operator and manager (1961-69)
- Sallie Connelly, operator (1961)
- Sanction
- NHRA
- Elevation
- 827 ft (252 m)
- Coordinates
- 42.07896, -76.09770
In 1956 four car clubs formed the Southern Tier Timing Association to hold races twice a month at the Endicott airport, timed over a fifth of a mile, starting that spring. Racing there stopped after 1956 until 1961, when Bob and Sallie Connelly started Tri-Cities Drag-Way at the airport. The first race in 1961, TANA sanctioned, ran under portable lights and car headlights and didn’t finish until 2 a.m. NHRA sanctioned the races from 1962, held Saturday evenings from May through October. In 1964 a traffic light replaced the flagman. Thousands came every week to see names like Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney, and cars like the “Backup Pickup,” “Lime Fire” and the “Hurst Hemi Under Glass.” Bob Connelly was managing the dragway by 1967. It didn’t run in 1970 because of an FAA ruling.
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