September 11, 2016 while being a day of remembrance and reflection will also serve as a day of unique importance to fans of drag racing in the New England region. For it was that day 50 years ago that New England Dragway opened its door of the first time and from that point on has served as the foundational rock for the sport in New England. The weekend after Memorial Day the track will host the NHRA New England Nationals and it will play to a packed house.

It should be noted that New England Dragway did not bring drag racing to New England but it did give the sport a permanent home. Many of the founders are still alive and active with the truck, which is incredible. To see one of the most famous spots for straight line competition read on and then watch the video!

Sanford, Maine is one of many spots that organized drag racing took place at in the New England area during the 1950s and into the 1960s. Sanford was an airport which allowed hot rodders to use one of the runways on the weekends to race. It became a well known strip and names like Don Garlits and others left their rubber burned into the pavement before the place ceased operation as a drag strip in the 1960s. Sanford is a place that is still spoken about with reverence by older hot rodders and drag racers in New England. It was the place that many racers got their first personal experience with the sport and that has stuck with them. The New England Hot Rod Council was kind of a UN of hot rodders that brought all the regions car clubs together with the mission of finding a permanent home for drag racing in New England. Eventually, it was this group that brought New England Dragway into existence.

This video was made almost a decade before racing stopped at Sanford and it is one of the finest period pieces of film depicting the sport that we have ever seen. The color is amazing and while there is no sound, we sat through the entire 15-minutes mesmerized by the sights we were looking at. The film shows all different types of cars racing from a VW Beetle to the mighty fuel dragsters of the day but the one machine we see the most of is a bullet nosed, radically chopped and channeled coupe. Going even further than that, the coupe is rear engined and the roof is hinged to allow the driver ingress and egress! We have no idea how fast it ran but judging by the three exhaust pipes out either side, it was powered by a Flathead Ford engine.

The title of the video states that it was shot in 1958-1959 but we think it may have been made in ’57. Why? Mainly because we don’t see any 1959 vehicles being raced or sitting in the background of shots (unless we missed something). There are a gaggle of 1957 Chevy coupes running which made us smile. Guys really did take those things out and get after it. The small block Chevy was still relatively new at this point in time so the true potential of that package hadn’t even begun to be realized.

You’ll be blown away by the number of cars, the number of people, and the coolness of the whole scene. You’ll see lots of guys goofing off and having fun along with the thrashing, busted cars, and women in head scarves and cool old sun glasses. Seeing the clubs rolling the dragsters onto their little homebuilt trailers behind pickup trucks is fantastic. It is even more fantastic when you realize that Sanford, Maine is about 90 miles north of Boston but in a rickety old truck with an unsprung trailer behind it, that’s a hike! These guys were dedicated to the core and Sanford did lots to help the sport of drag racing grow and thrive in the 1950s and into the 1960s in New England. This video shows the way it really was and we sure do wish our time machine wasn’t on the fritz right now. These seem as though they were some amazing times.

Thanks to BangShifter Lawrence Smith for the tip!

PRESS PLAY BELOW FOR AMAZING DRAG RACING FOOTAGE FROM SANFORD, MAINE CIRCA THE LATE 1950S

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