The Launch Pad Garage

I just posted some VERY VINTAGE drag race footage from a long gone East Side Cincinnati Ohio Dragway! In my garage video section. Have a look and enjoy!

The Beechmont Dragway was in operation on the East side of Cincinnati Ohio from around 1958 to the middle of the 1960s noise ordnance’s led to it’s closing! I never seen it in operation but did ride my bicycle to the site as a youngster and as a kid I couldn’t understand why they had to close it up! Heck right across the street was a municipal airport so what was the noise ordnance about? I found this video on You Tube and thought I would share it with my HUB buddy’s! I got these Videos from You Tube and the information from
www.queencitymotorsports.com
hope you ENJOY the old footage of these short videos!

Former announcer Bruce Moreton shares his home movies taken around 1958-196…

Track: Defunct – 1/4 Mile Drag Strip, 1958 – 1961
Track Location: Track was located at old Route 74 (Wooster Pike) and Route 125 (Beechmont Avenue), north of the Beechmont Levee, near the Lunken Airport.

Brief History: Like many Drag Strips, they came about so that various car clubs, who would normally meet on the streets to race, had a place to hold organized Drag Racing. Several area Clubs had merged to form the Southern Ohio Timing Association (S.O.T.A.) in March of 1956. SOTA was led by Carl Poppe, a Cincinnati Police Highway Patrol Officer, and the Club had plans to built a Drag Strip in the Cincinnati area. SOTA obtained a plot of land near the Lunken Airport , but the money that needed to be raised to build and pave the track originally fell well short of the total finances need. It was through a Club member, who had a connection to a local Paving Company that led to the completion of the the Drag Strip. The Beechmont Drag Strip opened in 1958.

Some notes from the 1960 Beechmont Dragway Nwesletters, publisheed by the Beechmont Dragway.
Main office address: 7128 Montgomery Rd., Cincinnati, 36 Ohio.
Track Proprieter: Harry Adler

Track Manager: Frank Machen.
Timer: Don Gaskins, local NHRA Representative. The timing equipment used was Chrondek, costing about $3,000.

Inspection Director: Sid Miller

Announcer: Bruce Moreton, Mariemont, Ohio

From the June 17, 1960 Newsletter (Vol. II, Number 5): 1/8th Mile Drags Discontinued. Track management announced last week that the 1/8th mile drag races are not being resumed.

The 1960 scheduled opening day, Sunday April 10, was canceled due to flooding, and rescheduled for Sunday April 17.