National Trail Raceway is a quarter-mile
dragstrip
A dragstrip is a facility for conducting automobile and motorcycle acceleration events such as drag racing. Although a quarter mile (1320 feet, 402 m) is the best known measure for a drag track, many tracks are eighth mile (201&n ...
located between
Hebron
Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...
and
Kirkersville,
Ohio, USA, off of
U.S. Route 40. The race track is located about 30 minutes east of
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...
. It is known to local residents as 'National Trails'.
History
Clark Rader, Sr., along with sons Ben and Clark, Jr., broke ground on the facility in 1963, and completed the construction in 1964. At the time, United States Route 40 was known as the National Road and/or the National Trail, which is why they called it National Trail Raceway. It was the fifth largest racing facility of its kind in the United States at the time.
The
NHRA
The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a drag racing governing body, which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorspo ...
's national event known as the Springnationals bounced around among three different sites from 1965-1971.
Wally Parks
Wallace Gordon Parks (January 23, 1913 – September 28, 2007) was an American writer. He was the founder, president, and chairman of the National Hot Rod Association, better known as NHRA. He was instrumental in establishing drag racing as a le ...
, founder and head of the NHRA at the time, decided to move the Springnationals to National Trail Raceway in 1972, based on the popularity of drag racing in central Ohio. According to National Trail Raceway's website, "...the race drew more than 40,000 spectators and 600 cars. On both Saturday and Sunday, the (admittance) gates had to be closed while cars were still sitting on Route 40 waiting to get in to the event as the grounds were already full."
In 1976,
Shirley Muldowney
Shirley Muldowney (born June 19, 1940), also known professionally as "Cha Cha" and the "First Lady of Drag Racing", is an American auto racer. She was the first woman to receive a license from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) to drive a T ...
became the first female to ever win a national event in the Top Fuel Dragster category. In 1982, the first ever all-female professional final took place between Shirley and Lucille Lee.
For most of the Springnationals' history, the event was run in the month of June, often on or around Fathers Day weekend. But, due to Ohio's sometimes unpredictable weather, some feel this is why the performances of the race cars were usually not as quick or as fast as at other NHRA national events. The unpredictable weather often made for unpredictable track conditions. Thus, a number of crew chiefs would often have trouble knowing how to properly tune and prepare the race cars to run well. This led to many upsets during eliminations. In fact, several drivers scored their first, and sometimes only, national event win during the Springnationals at National Trail.
Because the track was built between two roads, United States Route 40 and Refugee Road, National Trail Raceway was known to have one of the shortest (post-finish line) shut down areas of any event on the NHRA national event schedule. In the early 1980s, the NHRA and National Trail Raceway used catch-nets on Springnationals weekends to help stop some race cars that couldn't slow down enough to safely turn off the end of the race track. But, in 1984, Top Fuel Dragster driver Doug Kerhulas had a problem stopping his race car by the end of the shut down area and drove his car into the catch-net, as drivers were instructed to do. Though the catch-nets did stop his race car from going onto Refugee Road, the sudden stop caused by the nets also nearly killed him. So, in 1986, the nets were replaced by sand pits. Ironically, Funny Car racer Gary Phillips couldn't slow down in time and drove his car into the sand pits. But he was carrying so much speed, his car still went through the sand pits, across Refugee Road, and into farmer Herb White's front yard. The race car did not hit any vehicles and was able to miss the farmer's house. However, this was the only time the sand/gravel traps were not able to stop a vehicle, so NTR continued to use them any time the NHRA was in town.
The NHRA and National Trail Raceway eventually worked out a deal with the
Ohio State Highway Patrol
The Ohio State Highway Patrol is a division of the Ohio Department of Public Safety and has the primary responsibility of traffic enforcement in the state of Ohio.
Divisions
Operationally, the Patrol is divided into units whose varying tasks com ...
to close down that area of Refugee Road during Springnationals weekends. This allowed National Trail to connect the end of the shut down area to Refugee Road, giving drivers a little more room, if needed, to stop their race cars safely. And they worked out a deal with Herb White to move the sand pit to the side of his front yard, just in case.
The NHRA purchased the track from the Rader family in 1996. A first offer was refused, but when the NHRA threatened to pull the Springnationals from the track, a deal was reached. National Trail became one of the few tracks in the country to be owned directly by the NHRA. Shortly thereafter,
Pontiac Pontiac may refer to:
*Pontiac (automobile), a car brand
*Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief
Places and jurisdictions Canada
*Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality
** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...
began sponsoring the national event held at NTR, and changed the name to the Pontiac Excitement Nationals and eventually the Pontiac Performance Nationals. The NHRA event was then moved from mid-June to mid-May. In 2006, possibly due to cooler weather conditions and better track conditions, Top Fuel driver
Tony Schumacher Tony Schumacher may refer to:
* Tony Schumacher (drag racer) (born 1969), American drag racer
* Tony Schumacher (kayaker) (born 1976), Australian sprint canoeist
* Tony Schumacher (German author) (1848–1931), German children books author
* Ton ...
set a new NHRA national speed record of 336.15 mph. Following the 2006 NHRA season, National Trail Raceway ceased hosting a national event and the Pontiac Performance NHRA Nationals was moved 100 miles north to
Summit Motorsports Park
Summit Motorsports Park, formerly Norwalk Raceway Park and Norwalk Dragway, is a drag racing facility located at 1300 State Route 18 near Norwalk, Ohio. It has been a National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) sanctioned facility since 2007 and annual ...
in
Norwalk, Ohio
Norwalk is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Huron County, Ohio, Huron County. The population was 17,012 at the United States Census 2010, 2010 census. The city is the center of the Norwalk, OH μSA, Norwalk Micropolitan Stat ...
.
For many years, this event was one of the more prestigious national events on the NHRA calendar. In the 1970s, Diamond P Sports produced NHRA's syndicated television coverage of select events, and 'the Springs' was one of those events. In the 1980s, it was annually televised on either
TNN or
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
, and for much of the '90s it was broadcast nationally on either
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
.
In 2010, the NHRA still owned the facility. The NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and the NMRA hold events at NTR. NTR also holds events such as the Buick Nationals, the Mopar Nationals, and the Night of Thunder, which features jet-cars and wheelstanders.
NTR has also hosted the NHRA
National Hot Rod Reunion and Super Chevy Shows' in the past.
On November 5, 2011 the NTR held the annual
Ohio High School Athletic Association
The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) is the governing body of athletic programs for junior and senior high schools in the state of Ohio. The OHSAA governs eligibility of student athletes, resolves disputes, organizes levels of compe ...
state
cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...
championships. The meet was formerly held at the
Scioto Downs
Eldorado Gaming Scioto Downs, formerly known as Scioto Downs Racino, is a horse racing track and casino in Columbus, Ohio, owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment. The track has operated since 1959, and became Ohio's first racino with the ...
racetrack, but moved to NTR due to the introduction of slot machine gaming at Scioto Downs.
In 2017, Shelby Development, LLC purchased National Trail Raceway from the NHRA. The company also owns
Heartland Motorsports Park
Heartland Motorsports Park, formerly known as Heartland Park Topeka, is a multi-purpose motorsports facility south of downtown Topeka, Kansas near the Topeka Regional Airport.
When it opened in 1989, Heartland Motorsports Park was the first new ...
in Kansas, which they acquired in 2015.
[National Hot Rod Association, ''NHRA, Shelby Development, LLC announce Shelby’s acquisition of National Trail Raceway'', NHRA Staff, February 23, 2017](_blank)
Retrieved May 15, 2019. The following year, Jay Livingston became general manager and co-owner of the track.
In 2019, Big Ambitions, LLC purchased the property from Shelby Development, LLC. Jay Livingston is the owner of Big Ambitions, LLC owns the facility 100%.
National Trail Raceway is also a member track of the Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA), a regional sanctioning body of professional 1/8 mile (0.201 km) outlaw door-slammer drag racing.
[Professional Drag Racing Association](_blank)
Retrieved Jun. 10, 2018.
References
{{reflist
External links
Official Website
Buildings and structures in Licking County, Ohio
Motorsport venues in Ohio
National Road
Tourist attractions in Licking County, Ohio
1964 establishments in Ohio
Sports venues completed in 1964