DOVER DRAG STRIP GONE /complete photos Then & Now

[billy-casey]

im pretty sure you have to go west one more photo . there was a few houses that were built across the steet in the late 60s . also you can see the lake at the top left of the bottom pic. i believe it is at the end of the shut down . back then it was a dirt road then the swamp . went in there once in 1967…billy casey

quote Maso:

quote dinotheweirdo:

On the RIGHT going west Not Left you didn’t go far enough

I haven’t been there since 1965, but I seem to remember it being on the left. I remember driving by the State Hospital and crossing the tracks.

[billy-casey]

THATS IT ….. the bldg. on the right of the prop. was the Anderson pete co. just pass the scales . Chet built that about 1972 . im pretty sure he saw more money in that then a drag strip

quote srt2stang725:

well after looking pretty carefully at that image and then google earth this is what i came up with

[jbradleyd]

If you go on google earth and scroll up you can see the shut down area and return road running beside the pond. The modern day aireal shots on here don’t show all of the track.

[jbradleyd]

The little out building to the left of the garage would be sitting in the middle of the track.

[gaspumpchasParticipant]

Dino- thanks for posting that aerial view from back then. In the pics that I sent, there’s a pic of me standing in the burnout area; you can see where the color of the pavement changes, andea In one of the old pics I can lay everything out using the pavment shade as a ref point. Hopefully, u can post the rest. The ones that were posted are showing the return road, on your left in the pic. Other than that the landscape has changed so much its hard to know where everything was. Also I included a pic of the hill on the left side of the burnout area the stands were???? Also a pic of the curb. Got my pieces of the burnout area in a bag hanging over my desk!!!

BTW- a shameless plug- I’m working on a reunion of the alumni of the Pocono Drag Lodge in Northeastern, PA; I will be picking the reunion committee’s brains to get some ideas how to pull this off. So far I have gotten a lot of interest. The owner of the track is agreeable to having a meet at the strip!! Visited the strip last weekend and the site looks good with a little work. Working on getting some old radio spots for our DJ to play. Everyone will be invited. Anyone that would like to get involved, is interested or would like to help out in any way Please contact me. Sorry we couldn’t do something like this at Dover, but PDL is one of the few that still exist.

Thanks and keep up the good work

if it don’t go, chrome it….

Charlie Hulsizer
ecoair9798@aol.com 😆

[srt2stang725]

Why did they shut down the strip?

[dinoKeymaster]

There are many opinions,from different people. I believe it was all those things contributing. First …any traclk loses revenue with low car count and lack of spectators. Gotta make it worth it or shut it down.Thats with anything. At that time competing tracks were offering more payouts. Dover wouldn’t come to the plate. Drag racing in general was going through changes as well. Bracket racing was introduced. Class racing was way too expensive. For a number of years we were losing potential racers to rhe Viet Nam war …And a whole bunch didn’t come back. Most Tracks were continually updating…Dover was not. Never had finish line score-boards, a decent sound system, the food concession was run Home style by the Lions club.They didn’t want to spend advertising money.In the end there was more money in Peat Moss than running a Race Track. Some people (racers-businessmen) offered to take it over and were refused. Also,the owners were getting old and lacked the vision and drive of a hot-shot promoter-Entreprenuer. Then there was the gas crisis (member that?)…the world was changing and Dover wasn’t changing with it. Gone were the days of “run -what -ya -brung. Drag Racing was becoming a business, you needed sponsors. The old Drag Racing Hot Rodders with home built machines were a thing of the past .I remember when guys would flat-tow with tow bars into the track or drive their racer in ,take off the hubcaps, and pull into the staging lanes with their daily driver ! BUT the Memories are there …Thats what this website is all about….Just like the beginning of the old Lone Ranger Show….”Journey Back in time with us to those thrilling days of yesteryear, with a cloud of dust and a mighty …….HI Ho Dover!!!!!”

got carried away a little bit there…………………….

[srt2stang725]

alright fellas, i took a trip there yesterday and snapped some pics…..there is no more asphalt where the actually bottom end of the track was, but at the top end/runoff im sure there is some…however there is a fence up at the top and no trespassing signs all over the place…but i was going to hop the fence anyway to take some pics but there was a guy up there and i didnt feel like getting the cops called on me….however i will be going back….with my truck this time though, it wasnt too pleasant with the mustang….anyway on to the pics

[gaspumpchasParticipant]

Dino- can u post the rest of my pics; I’m assuming all 11 pics came thru??If not I’ll fire em off again….thanks for posting!!!

” Chrome reversed rims with whitewall slicks
and she turn’s the quarter mile in 106-
door handles are off but U know I never miss ’em
I open ’em up with a sel-ye-noid system”

CHERRY CHERRY COUPE, BEACH BOYS , 1963

GASPUMPCHAS 😆

[masoParticipant]

I don’t quite get what I am seeing here. I remember that the track was cut into the landscape. Did a contractor fill the land over what was the old track…?

[billy-casey]

hi maso ; the prop. looks so different because when the track closed in 1976 peckem had a 10 year lease on it for strip mining . the soil was perfect for concrete and other prod. it sold around 1986 to pawling rubber and has sold again since then …. billy casey

quote Maso:

I don’t quite get what I am seeing here. I remember that the track was cut into the landscape. Did a contractor fill the land over what was the old track…?

[masracingtd1167Participant]

I was there about 2 years ago oddly enough for a funeral. Former racer Ron Frost Black magic asked to have his ashes buried at dover.His wife Ceal asked permission and was told it was ok.The funeral service was held at the very end of the shut down area.That was the first time that I had ever been back since the day it closed.Very strange feeling.A lot of the shut down as well as part of the return road was still in tact. I hope this helps.

[masoParticipant]

quote masracingtd1167:

I was there … for a funeral. Former racer Ron Frost Black magic asked to have his ashes buried at dover…

He’s not the only one. I was at Famoso Raceway in Bakersfield Calif. in 2004 when they put cartoonist Pete Millar’s ashes in the chute pack of a front engined dragster and released it at about 1000 feet. Doesn’t that sound like something you’d expect to see in one of his cartoons…!?

Rest in Peace Pete Millar…!

[skip-north]

We were there 2 years ago, it was spooky, it was daytime, but you could almost hear the cars, shut down is all that’s left.

Heade northon NY Route 22, turn left at Adams Diner (at which there’s a traffic light), you will be heading west, cross the railroad tracks (Gene’s bar is on the left at the tracks), approx 3/4 mile past that, on the right was the entrance to the track.

Skip North

[dinoKeymaster]

Gone But with your help …we can see how it is now …I have new shots from Brian to post .Planning make some kind of Page to get them and the old ones together plus my idea of a ‘birds eye ‘ view drawing. This to give the “youngins” an idea how the whole place looked with lables.

😎 BBT-bumped the thread

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