Author: admin9e17

Dick Harrell Raced At DD Dick Harrell was known as “MR CHEVROLET.” There is so much written about Dick Harrell we have posted a few of the best articles we found. We are proud to say that “Mr. Chevrolet” raced at Detroit Dragway, and we are glad he did. At the height of drag racing in the 60’s & 70’s Detroit Dragway was one of the drag strips all the top drag racers wanted to race at. Detroit Dragway held it’s last race in 1997, but we are keeping it’s memory alive. Share your stories with us. We also know…

Bill Lawton & Tasca Ford raced at Detroit Dragway. Bill Lawton is a Hall of Fame drag racer. Bill Lawton,is from Cranston, R.I. He was the driver for the Tasca Ford dealership in East Providence, R.I. In 1965 he won both the Winter Nationals in Pomona, California and the Super Stock Nationals. Tasca Ford’s have a rich history in drag racing, and are still very popular at the current NHRA events. Bill also raced the Tasca Ford F/C at Detroit Dragway   The Tasca family is still heavily involved in drag racing today. Visit Tasca Ford’s current drag racing website.  Click…

Eddie “Fast Eddie” Schartman raced at Detroit Dragway. Another of the most famous drag racers that raced at Detroit Dragway is Eddie “Fast Eddie” Schartman “He built his first drag car, a flathead-powered ’40 Ford, when he was 14. By the time he graduated from Berea High School in 1956, he was already a skilled racer. He journeyed from Cleveland to Flagler Beach, Fla., for Daytona Speed Week in a street-driven ’56 Chevy with a stroked-out 338-cid engine and won everything in sight, and shortly afterward, he set the NHRA B/Gas record with a full-race ‘55 Chevy”. From NHRA.com. Read the…

Al Bergler Probably one of the most famous racers/ builders that raced at detroit Dragway is Al Bergler. Al is a Michigan born & raised drag racer and race car builder. We know him for his funny car the “Motown Shaker” & his dragster “More Aggravation” . Al won the first ever Ridler Award at the 1964 Autorama with his dragster “More Aggravation”. He is also known for his tin work on so many of the past & current funny cars, and dragsters. Al still continues building these pieces of drag racing art today in his shop. Here is…

Don Carl Gay Don Gay and his Pontiacs raced at Detroit Dragway. Don was born in Texas in Jan. 1 1947 and passed June 30 2007 Don’s parents owned Gay Pontiac, in Dickinson, TX, Don built his first funny car out of a ’65 GTO. Don’s Brother Roy later drove it. This hot rod was called “Infinity” . Don also had Firebird Funny Car. That had rainbow paint & snowflakes, goldleaf lettering. Don retired from drag racing in 1970. He then went on to run the families Pontiac dealership. Don’s son, Don Gay Jr. had a very bad fiery funny…

Chris Karamesines One of the most famous drag racers ever is Chris Karamesines “The Golden Greek”. Detroit Dragway was lucky enough to have Chris as one of the many top racers to have raced there. There is so much information on the net about “The Greek” that we share some good links. We are trying to keep Detroit Dragway’s memory alive, and by letting people know some of the racers that made Detroit one of the top places to race, back in the day. From Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Karamesines Chris Karamesines (born November 11, 1931) is an American drag racer and one of NHRA’s…

Greg Knapp raced his Knapp Bros “REBEL YELL” at Detroit Dragway. Detroit Dragway was, and is like most drag strips they need their local racers to keep them going.  They count on the local racers to be there every week to race, and support their local track. Well Greg Knapp was one of those local racers.   Greg raced his 1970 Chevy Chevelle, the Knap Bros REBEL YELL  at Detroit and won many races & awards. Thanks Greg for help making Detroit Dragway One of the top places racers wanted to race.  You can find Greg on our Detroit Dragway Facebook…

Dick Loehr Raced At Detroit Dragway Here is just a few highlights of Dick Loehr’s racing career.  We place a couple of links that will give you much more information oh his career, and his hot rods. Richard “Dick” Loehr (1943 – 2008) was a Michigan Hot Rodder and raced at Detroit Dragway. He started his racing career as a driver with the Champion Ford racing team. It started in 1961 with the Michigan based Ford racing team. Throughout his racing career Dick won hundreds of races, and even twenty six national events. When Ford pulled out left racing…

Don Schumacher raced at Detroit Dragway. He started racing in the early 60’s and retired from racing in 1974. In 1998 he established DSR (Don Schumacher Racing) DSR now has a number of funny cars & dragsters that race at every NHRA race. You can visit the DSR’s website using this link   https://www.shoeracing.com/about/don-schumacher Through out his career he raced at many of the top dragstrips, one of which was Detoit Dragway.   As of most of the great drag racers of yesterday there is a lot online about them  On Detroit Dragway’s website we are just highlighting them, along with the…

Perry Wyatt Jr. Raced At Detroit Dragway We’ve all hear the expressions “Like father like son” or “The apple don’t fall far from the tree” Likewise Perry Jr. followed in his dad’s love of cars & drag racing, especially at Detroit Dragway. Perry spent his younger years at Detroit Dragway with his father where his passion for drag racing & his love of Detroit Dragwy were forever embedded. He also ran a business at the Double D. Perry raced his 69 Yellow Camaro at his home track Detroit Dragway, but also raced at Milan Dragway. Thanks to everyone that help…