Oswego Drag Raceway

Radio listeners throughout the Midwest remember the Oswego Drag-Raceway commercials on Chicago radio in the 1960's. Ed Hettinger, who owns Hett's Auto Sales in Oswego, is coordinating the Oswego Drag-Raceway Reunion, which will kick off Saturday with cruise from 500 to 800 p.m. at the Park 'N Ride on Orchard Rd. in Oswego.

Racing fans from days gone by as well as current enthusiasts may want to cruise by the Little White School Museum in Oswego where a special exhibit on the former Oswego Drag Raceway was recently

This exhibit revives the exciting history of the Oswego Drag Raceway, which drew crowds three times the village's population to the quarter-mile strip on the Wally Smith farm on U.S. Route 34 in the mid-1950s. Its title was inspired by energetic radio commercials on quotTop 40 AM stations. These ads, featuring announcer Jan Gabriel

Organizers of Saturday's sixth annual Drag Raceway Reunion hope to capture a little bit of that nostalgia as they move the one-day event back to Oswego's downtown from noon to 7 p.m.

A hot bed for several generations of drag racing in the Oswego area, the stories that follow the landmark are as touching as any epic story you'll hear this year. In fact, Oswego Dragstrip, located on Route 34 in Oswego, Illinois, was America's oldest functioning dragstrip until it was bought out and renovated in the early 1980s.

Fans of the old Oswego Drag strip! Please add pics! 1960s70s80s drag racing pic 442 members. Join. UDRA The Car and Stars. 2.4K members. Join. Oswego High School Alum. 6.5K members. Join. Brian's Pro Shop and Hobby Gro 898 members. Join. Chi-Town Drag Cars Of The 90's. 3.7K members. Join.

The drag strip was built on the Wally Smith farm by Wally and his brother, Dan, one mile west of the Oswego Bridge, on Highway 34. It started out as just a dirt drag strip, but was paved by at least 1956. NHRA selected Oswego to hold a Midwestern regional championship drag race event on September 29-30, 1956. The race drew 10,000 spectators.

Jim Williams snapped this shot at the Oswego Drag Raceway timers' tower in 1968, capturing a Mustang parked in front. Jim Williams collection While the mix of participants at the Oswego Drag Raceway changed, as did the companies who managed the track, its popularity did not. All through the 1970s, the track weekly drew thousands of racers

Dad had taken me to Oswego Drag Raceway a few times. The State of Illinois had unwisely just given me a drivers license, and I was being allowed my first unsupervised trip to the track. I still didn't have a Hasselblad for some reason, but Dad let me take his prized Bell and Howell Electric Eye 127 camera and one roll of Kodak Ektachrome

1960s70s80s drag racing pic 436 members. Join. Chi-Town Drag Cars Of The 90's. 3.7K members. Join. Chicago Modelmasters 490 members. Join. Chicagoland area cruise nig 3K members. Here are some car shots I took at this years Oswego Drag Strip Reunion car show back in Sept. 2021