Gone... but not forgotten...... are the ear-ringing roar of the engines, smell of burning tires, oil, and nitro fumes, and many many loyal fans and spectators of the Detroit Dragway in Brownstown Township on Sibley near Dix.
For almost 40 years, from 1959 to 1997/1998, Racers, Hot Rodders, Gear Heads, and the curious few who wanted test their automotive mettle, would come here by the hundreds to test their mighty mechanical machines, engines, and their nerves.
(Image via Pinterest)
The popularity of the Dragway was such that certain advertisements for the venue would become part of the lexicon and phrases around Metro Detroit and elsewhere.
The Detroit Dragway was famous for many of the the names associated with drag racing and speed in their time, but what was interesting to note a couple names were part of the group that is quietly known as the "Legends of Detroit". Many of those names include the following individuals who were from all walks of life and their teams really made them who they were as well.
Shirley Muldowney (middle)
>>Shirley Muldowney<<
She was known as the “first lady” of drag racing. Shirley at age 16 never even knew how to drive a car. At age 18 she had learned how to drive from her husband, Jack Muldowney, and then appeared in her very first
race in 1958. Muldowney got her NHRA license in 1965. Muldowney made a change in classes she ran and jumped from dragsters to funny cars.
She purchased her funny car from the legendary Connie Kalitta. From 1972 to 1977, Muldowney teamed up with Connie Kalitta. She made it to Top Fuel class getting her license in 1973 and winning three national championships in 1977, 1980 and 1982.
Conrad "Connie" Kalitta and his Dragster
>>Connie Kalitta<<
Connie was nicknamed the "Bounty Hunter". National Hot Rod Association Top 50 Drivers list Connie "The Bounty Hunter" Kalitta was ranked #21. Kalitta won 10 NHRA national events. Kalitta appeared in 22 finals.
Kalitta recorded a personal best pass of 4.58 @ 314 mph in 1999 and is also renowned as a professional drag racer in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA. Kalitta was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in June of 1992 for his tremendous contribution to the sport. Kalitta won five world championships and set the world's speed record on more than one occasion.
Although not currently in the driver’s seat, he is the team owner and crew chief of four Top Fuel teams as well as the owner of a Motorsports business in SouthEast Michigan.
"Big Daddy" Don Garlits
>>"Big Daddy" Don Garlits<<
Another noted driver was "Big Daddy" Don Garlits, who helped the Dragway with one of many claims to fame including the first electronically timed 200-mph pass.
The name “Big Daddy” Don Garlits is synonymous with Drag Racing. In fact Garlits has been dubbed the “King of the Dragsters,” and could be considered the patriarch of Top Fuel Drag Racing. Dons High school sweetheart is his wife Pat, however, his first love is the, automobile and his passion is winning. His swamp rat series of 34 hand fabricated black race cars carried him to 144 national event wins.
The Detroit Dragway venue was usually packed during the popular years but eventually the numbers for the speed-laced and gear-grinding venue eventually would wane as the years passed. It did not quite make it to it's 40th year and the gates would close for the last time on April 9th, 1998.
The track was originally constructed by removing dirt from the track area and piling it into a hill along the right side (where the stands were placed) so fans were looking down at the track in front of them. There was also a ditch that ran the full length of the track on both sides to catch a car that left the track - this was before the metal Armco barriers that we commonly refer to as stainless-steel guardrails. It worked pretty well and the gassers tested it often.
“The Dirty D,” which the Detroit Dragway was commonly referred to as, opened its gates in 1959 and was the brainchild of a gentleman named Gil Kohn. Kohn was the moving force behind the creation of the 4,100-foot long strip in the suburbs of downriver Metro Detroit and he convinced NHRA to hold its 5th National Championship drag races at the new track for it's inaugural year. It was only befitting that the home to the American automotive industry have a drag strip to showcase automotive machinery and mechanical & driving talent. For nearly four decades, the track flourished in the community that lived and died with the automobile itself.
The track quickly received it’s initiation into the sport, hosting the first two years of the NHRA’s top event – the one and only U.S. Nationals - from Sept. 3-7, 1959 and again the following year in 1960.
The event attracted 783 race entries. Rodney Singer from Houston got top eliminator in his blown Lincoln dragster with a string of 9.70s. He took home a new El Camino as a part of his prize winnings.
The following year, the U.S. Nationals moved to the new Indianapolis Raceway Park, where it has been held ever since.
Racing always began on Saturdays at 8:00pm and continued again on Sundays at 2:00pm. The dragway achieved local and national recognition by fans both near and far not only by the races it hosted, the drivers that drove the powerful machines, or the record setting runs, but by a strangely-crafted catch-phrase that started off as an annoucement at the track.
The "Little Red Wagon" that raced at the track
The advertisement of "Sunday Sunday SUNDAY" went viral as a radio and tv commercial and became one of the things (besides the machines) that the Detroit Dragway was known for. Many folks recall the commercial and its sounds of excitement, giving the impression that the racers were going to come right through your radio and into your living room or car. The phrase was known even in faraway places such as New York or Los Angeles, who had heard of the commercials somehow by either visiting the area or by word-of-mouth.
Click on the Microphone Image for a YouTube snip
of the Radio spots that ran for the Detroit Dragway
The Truth behind the Catch Phrase "Sunday, Sunday SUNDAY!"
(As told by Jon Lundberg, VODR (Ret.):
Though Jan Gabriel and many other radio voices made the call famous, in truth "Sunday, Sunday SUNDAY!" was first heard over the PA at Detroit Dragway in the summer of 1962. What basically happened was that track owner Gil Kohn was sinking the place on Saturday nights but on Sunday attendance stank.
So Gil began booking-in second-level match races to build attendance. He came to the tower one night and let us three announcers know - in no uncertain terms - that our jobs were on the line if Sunday traffic didn't improve. That offended us and so we devised a grand joke. We would simply scream the racer's names and the day they were racing as if it were the greatest event ever. So ... in turn, we would pick a sentence from the printed announcements and scream the words at the top of our lungs on Saturday night. We would always end with "Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!"
After hearing the "joke' for about three weeks, Gil contacted a local voice-over guy to reproduce the call and up the anti with a bit of echo added. He debuted the new ads on CKLW, a 50,000 Watt clear-channel station and on Detroit's number one rocker through DJ Joel Sebastian who owned the local teen market. It woked beyond our wildest dreams (and certainly our intentions).
Jan Gabriel may have been the most famous radio talent to mouth "Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!". But the whole thing began at Detroit Dragway, over the PA system, as a joke, in the summer of 1962. I was there, I was part of it, and that's how "Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY!" was born.
On May 29, 1963 at Detroit Dragway, Chuck Hatcher was driving Walt Arfons' "Wingfoot Express" jet car when he crashed into a retaining wall at the end of the strip. He was making some test runs in preparation for a later assault on the world's land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Wingfoot Express jet Car @ Bonneville Salt Flats
During the history of the track, it would also come to host races sponsored by the American Hot Rod Association (AHRA) and the United Hot Rod Association (UHRA).
In addition to the U.S. Nationals, the dragway was a standard venue for the AHRAs Grand American drag racing series by hosting the Michigan Grand Nationals. Usually this was the fifth race out of a ten race series. The pay out for the Grand Nationals was $20,000 for fuel dragsters and $10,000 for super stock drivers. Detroit would also host the main event of the UHRA: The Grand Nationals Championship.
The cars would reach top speeds of 125.7mph, with a time of 11 seconds and 117mph at 8 seconds. 45-second times were recorded during the early meets at the strip.
Factory or Stock Cars would rule the Detroit Dragway competition during the early years of the 1960's. With these vehicles and their drivers being "average", it would give these folks a chance to be drag racers, or even possibly National Champions.
What is Detroit, the Motor Capital of the World, without having some of the local automakers involved? Nothing. The Detroit Automakers would not be kept away and before long, there were factory-sponsored drag-race teams from General Motors, Ford, American Motors, and Chrysler. Chrysler had the most notable of these groups called the Ramchargers Team and it was comprised of a group of 20 engineers from Chryslers Central Engineering Division and this team would dominate the Detroit Dragway as well as other dragstrips nationwide.
Stock machines would not be the only ones to be seen and race on the track. Detroit Dragway would accomodate full-on dragsters, altered and modifieds, hot rods & street stocks.
The 1970's dawned and the hot attractions would change to more top fuel dragsters and funny cars, that were designed to look like street-vehicles but were anything but.
These cars would scream down the track at 215mph in a mindblowing 6.6 seconds.
The 1978 NHRA Summer Nationals held at the Dragway drew a crowd of 30,000 spectators for the three-day spectacle. Some of the biggest names of the time showed up for the event including The "Bounty Hunter" Connie Kalitta, Tom "The Mongoose" McEwen, Gary Burgin and three time top fuel world champion Shirley Muldowney. All these big names were competing for the largest purses ever awarded at the track: $40,000.
The 1980's arrived and thus began the decline of the attendance of the Dragway. Either misguided management, lack of enthusiasm due to economic downturn, or other factors would affect the dragway in a very negative way throughout the decade and into the start of the 1990's. The Strip began to deteriorate and attendance was dropping. It had been at a whopping 35,000 spectators in the heyday of the 1960's, yet it would see a total of 500 attendees during the 1991 season.
1959 race
The owners decided to make a change after 1991. Ed Law was hired in 1992 to restore the strip and bring it back to profitability. Law planned out the future for the "Dirty D" which would included remodeling the concession stand and restrooms, as well as adding new landscaping to the track entrance. These changes made a difference to the participants where the 1992 annual track’s driver meeting attracted nearly 500 racers.
1994 brought an effort revive the dragway’s racing spirit. The NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) arrived in Detroit with a multi million-dollar development plan to raze the old strip, make some other changes and improvements, including building a new racetrack stadium on the same location as the original "Dirty D" had been since the original construction. NHRA officials also had plans to host an annual drag racing event at the new track, which would hopefully boost the crowds and attendance, and of course the profits for the facilty.
Sadly, the proposal failed due to local politics, public opposition to the noise and traffic congestion, as well as a host of other obstacles that just could not be overcome with the whole renovation project. The Dragway continued operating for a short time after the plans fell through, but it never regained the popularity that it once had in the first 20 years of it's existance here.
The last official race was held in fall of 1997 and the gates closed on April 9th, 1998. The demolition soon began and towards the end of 1998 with the property being cleared for redevelopment into a trucking distribution center with the only smells, sounds, and sights were those of the industry of logistics and freight hauling.
After the close
Although Detroit Dragway is gone, it is not forgotten. Every weekend for 39 years the Detroit Dragway allowed dreams to scream down the track. But most importantly, it was a place where the average person could live that dream of becoming a red-eyed, fire-breathing drag racer in the family sedan, coupe, or pickup truck....even if it was for just a few moments in time.