Unnamed drag strip (Yuma)

Drag racing started around 1952 on an abandoned WWII emergency airstrip fifteen miles east of Yuma, which would have been Wellton Auxiliary Army Airfield. The “Dragsters of Yuma” car club ran the races with Bureau of Reclamation approval, and as of early 1953 the club’s best speed was 79 mph. In 1956 the Barons hot rod club started racing on a new strip just south of Highway 80, east of Yuma. Newspapers disagreed on the distance, giving eight, twelve or fifteen miles, but later reports put it at milepost fifteen, a mile off the highway. The first race there was on May 27, 1956. A September race drew racers from Arizona and California, with spectators paying 75 cents, and more races followed on October 14 and December 9. The 1957 season started May 12, with a second race on June 23. Early that year the Tri-Valley Timing Association sponsored the racing and the strip was NHRA-sanctioned. Around October 1957 the association was reorganized as the Yuma Timing Association, and races ran monthly. Its January 12, 1958 race was a benefit that drew 545 people and 72 entries, and the strip gave $200 to the March of Dimes. Carl Grimes of Phoenix took top eliminator with the best time of 125.34 mph in his Buick-powered Fiat. Russell Byrd, Jr. managed the strip.