Abandoned drag srtip east of Phoenix

[427TJ]

Half Moon Bay, located about 20 miles south of downtown San Francisco along the coast. Built as a navy PBY seaplane training airfield in WWII, it was used as the drag strip in the 1950s and '60s and is now the local airport. The famous "Mavericks" surfing area is adjacent to the airport off the point at the bottom left of the G-Earth image. The drags ran toward the southeast or lower right along the airport runway.



Gasser Willys pickup gettin' it on at HMB in the mid-1960s with the coastal hills in the background:



Neat Garlits v Prudhomme poster with the Little Red Wagon in attendance as well:



54-minute long DVD on the history of the strip, available here: wediditforlove.com/Jackson-DVDs.html



Text from DVD ad:

"Located along the California Coast about 20 miles south of San Francisco lies the historic Half Moon Bay Dragstrip. All of the big name drag racers of the late '50s to the late '60s competed there before thousands of enthusiastic fans. The track closed around 1968 and it was not until October 29, 1994 did the track re-open for "Sound Tests" of mild to hot drag racing machinery for environmental impact studies. Local prominent citizen of Half Moon Bay, Bot Senz, and his friend Lenny Kolstad have spearheaded efforts to revive the track which would center around the promotion and development of the Jr. Drag Racing League created by NHRA. Stock cars with capped headers would compete once a month with an occasional nostalgia drag race. Bob Senz has waged a tough uphill battle against environmentalists, local boards and home owners with irrational, unfounded misconceptions. The name Drag Racing still carries a stigma and still gets a "bad rap" since its inception. The question is: Do we "blot out" Drag Racing to save the earth or do we let Earth take care of itself and save our youth and human spirit?"