[Tim john]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Tim John, or Jeff -

Do either of you remember a road on the way to Tri-City where only 1/2 was paved?

It was paved in one direction, so if you were on the gravel side you'd drive on the wrong side until there was traffic, and then move over to the gravel to let the vehicle pass. After they cleared you'd hop back on the paved portion to continue on your way.

I was told it had something to do with taxes.

Ring any bells with either of you? It's something that has always stuck with me.

K

Hi Keith, If you are referring to the south side of the track it would have been and still is Freeland Road, to the north it would have been and still is Hotchkiss Road. This road is the county line from Saginaw Township to the south and Bay County to the north. These are the two closest roads north and south of the (old) track. Tower and Grand Stands still stand as well as the actual strip. When landing or lifting off from the air port one gets a very clear view of the old track, no question as to what it once was. There have been many efforts to re-open it but the airport controls the ground and all have failed to convince them to bring it back to life. What a shame, some big names raced here. Shirley Muldowney, The Hawaiian and so many more.

*UPDATE on the 69 GTO in the attached photo in the beginning. I was talking with Scott Tiemann from Supercar Specialties recently and he said that a high school classmate (older than Scott at the time) owned a 69 GTO Judge painted just like the car in the photo, the kid was driving it to school on occasion. Scott and I are similar in age so this would have been well after the photo taken at the race, perhaps the high school kid purchased it used or was a family members ? Same car, Scott could not confirm but Scott does not forget special paint cars so good chance this car ended up in the Portland, Michigan area in the mid to late 70's. Pretty neat for him to remember it so vividly, car obviously left an impression on him back then.

Tim

[Tim john]

Cool find here, I still have an original bumper sticker for Tri City Dragway. Had this squirreled aways in one of my tool box drawers, still has the adhesive back protection in place. Never installed. 4" X 6" in size.

That's a GREAT photo Jeff, I can understand why the airport frowns on opening it back up...safety and all, would hate to see our beloved muscle cars get damaged by some pilot not paying attention to their task at hand (navigation of their bird).

I also know who has the original billboard sign off the US-10 highway for the track, he has several items from the tracks heyday.

Tim john---

[Keith Seymore]

Thank you both.

That sounds right.

K

[Greg Reid]

I'm not a drag racer so this might be a dumb question...but it's something I've often wondered about... How does one know where he's going when he does a quarter mile wheel stand? How do they know that the car is tracking true?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

I'm not a drag racer so this might be a dumb question...but it's something I've often wondered about... How does one know where he's going when he does a quarter mile wheel stand? How do they know that the car is tracking true?

Not a dumb question -

Typically they have a small window in the floor that they look through.

There is a little bit of steering by using the individual rear brakes (I always imagined they were lever activated but I guess they wouldn't have to be).

K

[Greg Reid]

Thanks Keith...I have wondered about that many times... I can't imagine being comfortable doing it though, especially at 200+ mph.

[camerjeff]

Not a dumb question at all, I don't know anything about a small window or cut out in the floor to actually see down the track. But I here is a picture of the rear brake steering levers installed on the Hemi Under Glass. You can see the master cylinders at the base of the steering levers

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Greg Reid

Thanks Keith...I have wondered about that many times... I can't imagine being comfortable doing it though, especially at 200+ mph.

That's the other thing - they weren't really all that fast. I don't remember any specific ETs but for the purposes of this discussion let's say low 10's at mid 130 mph.

You can tell from the burnouts that if you walked up to it and leaned on the back it would probably pop a wheelie!

K