This time it's English Mountain Dragway in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains.
Worse yet, it's a "Turn Key" former IHRA racing facility, operating every weekend running a great, balls out racing program.
While the history of the strip is a bit sketchy it was originally built sometime back in the later 60's and in it's hey-day was a favorite test and tune stop off for many of the sports greatest racers traveling through the area on their way to "Thunder Valley" in Bristol.
Though unconfirmed it's been rumored that W.J. the Grump, Beadle, Nicholson and a host of others have left their fair share of rubber here. FED'S, funnies and altereds were a fairly common site on just about any given night
The track fell silent at the end of the 80's and sat all but forgotten until 1993 when it was purchased by a local drag racer and business man. Several months of labor and many thousands of dollars were invested breathing life back into the once thriving strip.
Originally built as a 1/4 mile strip it is now a very popular and wonderfully nostalgic 1/8 mile track serving up some of the finest and fastest racing around.
You'll see all kinds of high calibre rides here, from Jr. Dragsters to Pro-Mods, and pretty much everything in between. Low 5's are not uncommon here and in fact one of the "World Bracket" Grand Champion's hails from this very track.
Standing in the bleach box and drifting back in time is almost spiritual, conjuring up images of Sling Shots and Gassers from years gone by. One can only imagine the stories it could tell and the secrets it must hold ... If you listen closely enough you can almost hear the wild radio commercials from yesteryear ...
"Sunday" "Sunday" "Sunday" ... at English Mountain Dragway, Hemi madness races in to town. See Detroit's "Motown Mafia" take on New York's famed "Brooklyn Heavy" in a no holds barred, gear slammin' tire smokin, big money show down! This Sunday at English Mountain Dragway in Newport .... Be There!
Now after nearly forty years in existance and 15 years under the same ownership it's time to relinquish the track to a new guardian.
I have been granted a brief opportunity to help find a new owner owner for this remarkable drag strip before it goes on the open commercial market. Once that happens this one's as good as gone.
Why? Because this track sits on some of the most desirable development property anywhere in East Tennessee.
Ideally situated between Knoxville and Asheville and just minutes to the ultra popular ski resort town of Gatlinburg, the GSM National Park, Dollywood and not much farther to legendary Bristol Motor Speedway and Harrah's Casinos in Cherokee, this property boasts incredible views of the Great Smoky Mountains and Cherokee National Forest as well as a superior location just a mile south of Interstate 40 and yards off State Hwy. 321 in Newport, making it a prime spot for virtually any type of development. Being neither zoned nor restricted makes it all the more desirable to builders.
Time is running out. We can not afford to allow one more piece of our drag racing heritage to slip in to obscurity and end up as a page in a "History of Drag Racing" book.
Remember... Every time we lose another track we close a road to our past, we burn a bridge to our future, and we send racers back to the streets.
So what can you do? ... Plenty!
Check out the entire site then tell everyone you know about it. Call them, e-mail them, send them a link to this site. Post an ad or one of our flyers at your local speed shop, drag strip, or any other place you can think of where a gearhead will see it ... Just get involved ... That's all it takes!
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