Oswego Dragway operated from 1955 to 1980. During it’s time, the track was a hot spot of door slammer racing, most especially Pro Stock and early bracket racing. BangShift photo contributor Greg Rourke pointed us toward an awesome website that features dozens of killer photos and lots of history from the track.
An interesting tid bit is that Ben Christ served as the track operator (one of several he had in his “empire”). Christ is the man credited with coming up with the, “SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!” drag strip screamer style ad that dominated the airwaves in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
There are some killer photos featured here, including Animal Jim Feurer’s “Big Animal” 1957 Mercury. That big ass Merc weighed in at 4,000lbs and was powered into the 12s (in this photo, and later into the 11s) by a Ford Tunnel Port 427 and 4-speed combo. It was a dominant car for years at Oswego. Another cool shot is that of the mangled “Grumpy’s Toy” Monza. Pro Stocks were still pretty ill-handling in the mid to late 1970s as chassis technology had not yet caught up to the engine building prowess of dudes like Jenkins.
Hit the link below and spend a bunch of time checking out killer photos and history from Oswego Dragway!
Wednesday Time Killer: Oswego Dragway History
Wow that got my attention, my old car 9 rows
down, middle picture. 69 nova, owned this from
mid-80s until early 90s. Good friend still has
the car. 1800 original miles. Been a strip car
since 72 or so. Awesome to see a little history!
Oswego was a great track. The staging lanes were 5 feet from busy US34, and the burnout box maybe 20 feet from the road. Traffic would always back up along the highway watching the action. Back then, you didn’t have a real race car unless it had a name.
ss427, is your friend Tim Biernant? I have photos of that car from a few years ago.
This Saturday! Saturday! Saturday! August 6th, 2011.
12-7 PM
Beautiful downown Oswego, IL.
Don’t miss it !!
The 6th Annual Oswego Drag Raceway Reunion! Dragsters, Gassers, Muscle Cars, Altered, and Original Cars from the day!!
I remember racing there several times and almost running into the cornfield at the end of the strip!!!! And who can forget the Hidelburg roadster that ran about every week there?