LEBANON VALLEY DRAGWAY

[dinoKeymaster]

Our closest Neighbor track to the North… Lets keep this topic “Perod Correct” with a Dover connection (As with the other tracks) with OLD stuff from this track that still runs today. Like 1960’s-1970’s while Dover was still open. Haven’t done the research on this …So when did it open? -photos – and who were dover regulars that ran up there ? Many a time I remember Dover rained out…we’d call up Lebanon to see if they were running, and if so ….THE CONVOY NORTH WAS INCREDIBLE ! …30-40 cars …maybe more ! …towing inline heading for any place to race ! You should have seen the expressions on the peoples faces, as we towed thru all the little towns …. and with the guy at the gate when we immediatly inlarged thier pit area parking .Lot of swiching back and forth with familiar race cars. The sponsor city-states lettered on them tell the story.It became a Dover AND Conn. Dragway replacement when the two tracks , pulled the rug out from under the racers by closing.

[storm-king]

That was such an awsome track! They’ve got it all covered up with signs now, but back in the day you’d be watching cars making a pass down the strip, and see guys out in the stream fly fishing!

[jvore]

Another nice strip, visited many times, can remember Bill Lawton, and his Tasca Ford 63 lightweight, running a 11.9, with the announcer screaming that it was the first superstock on the East coast to break the 12 second mark! Can remember hanging on the fence, like in the early pictures submitted, thinking that’s a bad ass Ford, and this from a chevy guy! As I read, it is still being run by the same family(Commanders), they have been able to survive by staying a NHRA affilliation and kept up with the safety aspects. Jim.

[storm-king]

My cousin Ted Ryan, was the starter at lebanon for quite some time. I remember Mike Commander, who was my age, and still too young to drive, and I running around all over the track in some Impala rag top of his folks. it was a stick as I recall. I do have two surviving pics of shirley in her B/fuel injected car there. We’re scanning some of that now to get on here.
I thought the lebanon jacket was the Holy Grail of racing fashion, and I’ve got some movies of me fooling around with Freddie Murphy at Dover’s trophy booth while I’m wearing mine. Red jacket, with a yellow lightening bolt and Lebanon Valley stitched on it. Very cool.

[dinoKeymaster]

Newer “Hellzapoppn” and some other familiar names like Broughton,etc…..1965

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[jzucks]

Went up there once. Memories include the ticket I got on the Taconic @ 5:00 AM and the red track jacket with the lightening bolt on the back.

[bobby-s]

few pictures I found of Carmel Fords F/C at the Valley ’71.
looks like the injected motor,
anyone hear from Drake
hope he did’nt get stuck in a snow bank……………………………………[Photos editted-dino]…”I Fix ! “

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[dinoKeymaster]

When did Lebanon OPEN ? think 1963? right? Was Howie the original owner… And was it always Sanctioned….taking a little credibilty from Dover? like to do some more HISTORY on our neigbor to the North…now that our Race is there!

[dinoKeymaster]

Can’t find Too much at all of Lebanon’s early years except it OPENED Aug.18,1963. Better call Howard on this and pick his memory.

[dinoKeymaster]

OK…went to the “Commander” in Chief Himself. Howard was tickled to know we’re looking for the real story….so Here Goes:
Way back when…..1962 to be exact…This “Drag Racing” thing was catching on big time. He Saw how Dover ,So.Glens Falls and Fonda were packing them in.He already had a circle track in operation with plenty of parking and acreage to expand.Now, right down the street was Red Barn Speed Shop.They had a big corn field, and rumors were floating around about them buiding a Strip.Howard said ‘Itwas Them Or Us”.So he got a bunch of High School buddies and started knocking down trees.Then in came Charlie Putnam with about 5 pieces of land clearing euqipment,and things started to take shape.NHRA was called in ,and they were always sanctioned from day one.That was August 18,1963.They began with a flag starter.The first Starting Lights consisted of two trees .One for left lane and one for right lane.NHRA eventually made them go for one center one. Since no real commercial timing equipment was available, they home built their own. Interestingly ,the man who built and continued to maintain them,was Mike Nesland from non other than Dover Plains.He had seen Dovers Stuff and said “I can do it better”. As Howard states…”We pretty much put Fonda and So. Glens Falls out of Business”.As depicted in the movie”Heart Like A Wheel” and hinted at, that Shirley Muldowny got here license at Raceway Park ….is Not true.She Did that at Lebanon.Don Prudhomme ran his first 5 second run there, and they continue to have a Division One Event, the Division One Bracket Finals, Night Of Fire, Musclepalooza, years and years of Capital Area Street Rod Shows and Drags and of course now ….The annual Dover Drag Strip Nostalgia Drags.He Added,”Everybody Loves Your Race”

[masoParticipant]

quote dinotheweirdo:

OK…went to the “Commander” in Chief Himself …that Shirley Muldowny got her license at Raceway Park …is Not true. She Did that at Lebanon…

Yes… and it was Clyde McCaba and Don Garlits who co-signed the application for her there. That’s what Clyde told me anyway.

[dinoKeymaster]

Howard said “Two Funny Car Drivers” So lets confirm this…Two Licenses….”Competition” and Fuel-Two…Heres what Shirley said:

“Top Fuel license at Cayuga in 1973. Now, in the movie they had to take two of my NHRA nitro tests and compress them into one, so it didn’t happen quite the way they showed it. The three drivers who signed for my Top Fuel license were Tommy Ivo, Connie Kalitta, and Don Garlits.”

“I had a single-engine dragster I ran at one national meet. Then the NHRA discovered I was a woman–surprise, Shirley is a girl–so they disallowed my license( first one -“Competition”). At the time I was working for a Hearst newspaper and in my behalf they jumped all over NHRA. Wally Parks was afraid the law could come after them, so they reinstated my license. But then they wouldn’t accept my entry to a national event. Finally, I ran at the U.S. Nationals at Indy in 1970 with the twin-engine dragster.”

[dinoKeymaster]

Found this in the Background, in shot of Billy Milano’s Mustang…TWO TREES …left & right….. this is 69 at least ’cause Billy had ’69 win decals in photo I cropped this from.

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