Winters Airstrip

Drag racing on the 6,000-foot Winters-Davis airstrip goes back to February 1953, when the Asphalt Flyers, a Sacramento car club, asked to hold weekend races there. They got permission, and at a race on August 16, 1953, Harold Causaurang ran 124.7 mph. The California-Nevada Timing Association ran the races. Its member clubs came from Sacramento (Asphalt Flyers and Snails), Auburn (Foothill Roadsters), Reno (Desert Dragsters) and the Bay Area (Ramblers, Clutch Busters, Rod Benders, Chevies, Tire Burners, Odd Rods and North Bay Roadsters). Cal-Neva operated a strip here for four months in 1954, starting March 7. Though it was 65 miles east of the Bay Area, it usually drew about 50 cars and 1,000 spectators a week. All races were timed over a half mile of the runway, not a quarter. NHRA sanctioned a two-day event on July 10-11. John Bozzie often ran his two-engined motorcycle there at more than 144 mph. Hot Rod Magazine covered the strip in October 1954 (pages 26-29). After the 1954 season the outlook for racing in 1955 wasn’t good.

The north-south asphalt and concrete runway was built by the U.S. Army Air Force around 1941 and turned over to the local government after the war. It’s still in use as the Yolo County Airport, about six miles northeast of Winters. The Yolo County supervisors let the county March of Dimes hold a one-time benefit drag race there on Sunday, March 26, 1972. The FAA wasn’t keen but didn’t stop it, and closed the airport to commercial planes for the day. Several hundred racers ran eighth-mile drags, and the event raised more than $1,300.