The 1992 annual tracks driver meeting attracted nearly 500 racers.ġ994 brought an effort revive the dragways racing spirit. He also added new landscaping to the entrance. Law remodeled the concession stand and restrooms. Ed Law was hired in 1992 to restore the strip and bring it back to profitability. Attendance at the dragway dropped from 35,000 during its heyday in the in 1960s to 500 in 1991. A string of misguided managers caused the dragways spectators and racers to leave and the strip to deteriorate. The 1980s saw an overall decline of the dragway.
All were competing for the largest purses ever awarded at the track, $40,000. Also showing up for the event were some of the biggest names in drag racing: "The Bounty Hunter" Connie Kalitta, Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen, Gary Burgin and three time top fuel world champion Shirley Muldowney.
Screaming down the track at 215 mph in 6.6 seconds, the 1978 NHRA Summer Nationals drew a crowd of 30,000 spectators for the three-day event. The dragway also accommodated dragsters, altered and modified machines, hot rods and street stocks.īy the mid seventies the hot attractions at the strip were the top fuel dragsters and funny cars. Stock machines werent the only ones to race. The Ramchargers were a group of 20 engineers from Chryslers Central Engineering Division, who dominated the Detroit Dragway as well as other strips nationwide. The most notable team was the Ramchargers sponsored by Chrysler. Ford, General Motors and American Motors sponsored factory drag race teams, often ran by their employees. Top speeds of 125.7 mph and times of 11.117 to 8.45 seconds were recorded during the early meets at the strip.ĭuring the 1960s factory or "stock " cars ruled the Detroit Dragway competition, giving the average guy a chance to be a drag racers or even a national champion. Detroit also hosted the main event of the UHRA The Grand Nationals Championship. The pay out for the Grand Nationals was $20,000 for fuel dragsters and $10,000 for super stock drivers. Nationals the dragway was a standard venue for the AHRAs Grand American drag racing series by hosting the Michigan Grand Nationals the fifth race out of a ten race series. The dragway achieved national recognition not by the races it hosted or the drivers and record setting runs but by its radio commercial, "Sunday Sunday Sunday at the Detroit Dragway." "Ive run into people in Times Square (New York) whove heard those commercials," said Kohn. Racing always began on Saturdays at 8:00pm and continued on Sundays at 2:00pm. During its long history the strip also hosted races sponsored by the American Hot Rod Association and the United Hot Rod Association. Detroit Dragway was quickly initiated into racing by sponsoring the National Hot Rod Associations top event, the U.S.
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