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Walking through a large grassy field, you stumble over what appears to be a broken speaker. Wondering how such an item would end up in this odd spot, you look up to see two strips of weed-infested pavement stretching out a quarter mile into the distance. Where once was heard the roar of the engine and the screaming of the crowd, now little more than the gentle breeze and the chirping bird can be found at the site of the US 30 Drag Strip. Drag racing has been around almost since cars were invented. For generations young boys have souped up their “hot rods” and challenged each other to tests of speed and courage from country roads to dry river beds. By the 1950s, drag racing started to become more organized, largely due to the efforts of the American Hot Rod Association which was formed in 1956. Dirt fields sprouted bleachers and concession stands, and then beautiful paved tracks with safety fences and elaborate pit areas. Drag racing became big business. Being a racing-crazed state, Indiana was not immune to this, and so a famous track was open by 1957, perhaps as early as 1954, in what is now Hobart, Indiana, just east of I-65 on the north side of US 30. Closed in 1984, the US 30 Drag Strip was top entertainment for scores of Northwest Indiana and Chicago residents, but now sits overgrown and broken down.
Truly the great ones did run here - every major racer in the sport ran down the strip, including “Big Daddy” Don Garlits, Don “The Shoe” Schumacher, and Chris “The Greek” Karamesines. Three generations of kids were permanently hooked on the sport by visiting the event just once. It was really a social gathering - not only were fans there to watch, but often to be seen in their own creations, worked on in garages and on driveways all week to make them ready for the “big show”. The track was also the site of several major “firsts”. Ron Pellegrini claims to have run the very first “funny car” on the third weekend of May in 1965 at the US 30 Drag Strip. This style car, popular to this day, is characterized by a metal tube frame with a fiberglass body that can prop up or lift off the car entirely. Innovations continued, including replacing carburetors with fuel injection systems, replacing gasoline with nitro-methane, and the addition of turbochargers. Each year seemed to bring out new thrills as drag racing pushed the envelope of automotive innovation.
The twin paved strips run East-West in parallel to US 30 itself. Clay Street runs North-South along the East side of the property - the end nearest the street is where the starting line once was. The gigantic “pit” area was to the south of the track, and gravel parking lots for the fans were to the north. A small building stood at the head of the track east of the starting line, and a tall scoring and timing tower - painted orange for most of its life - stood at the starting line along its south edge.
Today only one building remains - a small overgrown white wooden shack once known as the “Goodie Booth”, run by Mrs. Julie “Ma” Wright, who’s home was across Clay street from the pit entrance. The only other standing structures are some light/speaker poles dotting the landscape and a large broken-down set of bleachers which have been moved from their original location at some point in time.
Large telephone poles block the obvious entrance to the facility behind the starting line, probably to discourage kids from using the track clandestinely for its original purpose. However, there is a way to enter the track grounds from what once was the pit area, as someone living in an old trailer now makes his home in the parking lot. Recently-worn ruts leading from the pit lot onto the track area indicate that the owners of the land may not have been as successful at keeping people out as they hoped.
The track itself is hardly visible from the road due to the overgrown brush, but if one walks only a few feet onto the property from the east a vast unbroken stretch of pavement is clear in front of you. Though the starting lights are long gone, the actual starting line is still faintly visible, and upon closer inspection, the concrete is marked with long streaks that give away the hundreds of cars that were once launched from this point. The Goodie Booth is missing its only door, and the inside is empty except for wooden shelves that line the far wall.
The US 30 would meet its end in a rather unique way. The fiery Jim Tice had guided the AHRA from 1959 until his untimely death in 1982 from cancer. Ownership of the sanctioning body went to his wife, Ruth, and a battle for control of the circuit began. In the middle of the 1984 racing season, Ruth was approached by the owner of Terminal Van Lines, Mike Grey. Mike offered to bankroll the circuit awards, and, wishing to ensure her future, Ruth sold. Stunned by the development, several track owners, including the US 30, split off to form the American Drag Racing Association (ADRA), and events were held at the facility for the rest of 1984 under that banner.
Unfortunately, the south was slow to recover from the economic recession of the early 1980s, and drag racing proved not to be as popular with the rural residents around the track as with northern audiences. The day after a sparsely-attended finals were held, the track owner disappeared with out a trace, and the checks for the employees and racers started to bounce. Mike Grey covered the majority of the checks with his own personal funds, but quickly sold the AHRA name to return to the moving business. That would prove to be the final AHRA race. Without a strong national sanctioning body, the US 30 would struggle for the remainder of the 1984 season. The operators of the track attempted to renegotiate their lease on the land but were not successful - the land owner saw the potential for a large residential development, and was eager to make it available to a developer. The track closed at the end of that season, never to reopen. Vandals and time would claim most the buildings and pavement, so now only the faintest marks of what once was are still visible. The city of Hobart annexed the land and surrounding area in 1994, hoping to continue to cash in on tax revenues from the expanding commercial center around Southlake Mall. A group proposed to reopen it as a drag strip that same year, but that was turned down . The land is now for sale as a commercial or residential site - as it has been for over 16 years. One day soon this little piece of history may be turned into a factory , a warehouse or more shopping, removing from the land another bit of Lost Indiana.
Spokane Raceway Park
National Hot Rod Association (NHRA)
Indianapolis Raceway Park |
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Description: Former drag strip
A view from the south side of the track looking at the starting line in 1972 and today. All of the buildings in
the original picture are gone with the exception of the large barn across the street which is now obscured by trees that have 30 year’s more growth on them.
A view west down the track in the early 1970’s and today.
The bleachers in the 1970s and today. They have been moved from their original
location out into the old parking lot and are sitting on their backs. Piles of wood planks that made up the seats sit next to the metal frames rotting in the sun.
The pit area south of the track looking southwest next to the old tower in the 1970s, 
Looking to the north at the remains of the “Goodie Booth” on the south side of the track (left) and also inside
(right). Part of a phone is on the wall, but only empty shelves remain.
The starting line, looking across both lanes. Click to zoom in to see the streaks still marked into the pavement.
The AHRA logo painted on the pavement between the twin tracks just past the starting line.
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