The 127th drag strip I have ever been to (living or dead) is displayed here before you. Shuffletown Dragway in North Carolina is one of the most eerie abandoned strips I have ever been to because nature is so rapidly reclaiming it. The place has only been closed for about 25 years but the reality is that stuff grows all year long in the climate of the Charlotte area and unchecked, it’ll simply take over. We have told you about Shufftletown Dragway previously but to briefly recap, the place opened in the 1950s as a dirt strip and was paved in the early 1960s. It ran as a healthy and busy southern match bash strip for many years. Then then the people came.
As the population of the local area grew, the squeeze on the track got tighter and tighter. Shuffletown was closed in 1996 because of a city noise ordinance that was passed. Basically it was legislated out of business because the local population was sick of listening to it. While the makes our blood boil, it is important to note that Shuffletown had a measurable effect on the sport.
As one of the great top sportsman quick 8 shootout tracks in the south, Shuffletown hosted guys like Tommy Mauney, Scotty Cannon, Ed Hoover, and others with regularity. It was one of the true incubators, accelerators, and ignition points for what would be come pro modified. Shuffletown lived to see pro modified born before its life was snuffed out by the local populace.
Walking the place now makes it look like it went out of business 100 years ago. It is truly weird.
The pit area and parking areas have been turned into a combo dog park, kid park, and baseball field. You walk through that stuff, over a little berm and then you are literally standing on the drag strip. Or what remains of it…and not much remains of it. The tower is completely overgrown and has been stripped to the studs. Nothing but a couple of electrical boxes remain. It looks like hell.
The track’s concrete starting line is still there and is actually in halfway decent shape. The asphalt will likely be completely reduced to gravel in the next couple of years when you consider what the timeline has been for its decline so far. The sawed off telephone poles that were the backing for the guardrails are there and the fences where you’ll see spectators standing behind are there as well.
This is one everyone should check out because it is literally open to the public. The best thing to do below is check out the photos and then watch the videos to see what the place actually looked like. It is stunning.
Check out the photos, then be stunned at the video of the track when it was running
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjONsL4thQQ
W.S. \”Scratch\” Whisnant started and ran Shuffletown during it\’s hayday. Scratch was a great friend, he is missed by many.
I don’t know which is sadder, the demise of this once-viable drag strip or the fact that you were in NC and DIDN’T COME TO SEE US!!!!!
Dan
I’m kind of surprised there is that much visible after 25 years; poison ivy and blackberries grow almost anywhere. And here in Georgia, we’ve got cacti and mountain plums that will grow where even those things won’t; I half expected to see the track full of prickly pears.
Nature reclaims abandoned property quickly here. An empty field is a field full of 10′ trees in about 3-4 years.
Hope you’re not allergic to poison ivy, as Matt points out…
Hope you caught Goodguys in Raleigh
Just think of all the interesting things nature has reclaimed over time. Check out the documentary videos on Chernobyl. Sad that this strip has closed, but if any area in the country could afford to lose a strip, it’s the Carolinas. Just saying.
That is why I’m a member of my towns planning and zoning board. We’ve been incorporated since 1674, still no noise ordinance.
Get involved, each and every one of us can make a difference.
Had some fun Sundays there but spent most of my race weekends at either Farmington or Mooresville. It’s still sad that it’s gone though.
Do you think the people that owned Charlotte motor speedway at the time might have had a hand in this? I heard some tall tales being down there for the ‘Auto Fair’ spring AACA Swap meets. If you think DC has a swamp, some of the car folks in that area are worse.
No it was the old hag that lived next door
I walked this old strip and couple of years ago. I could not help but think of the days I spent there in the late seventies and eighties . Certainly gone but not forgotten.
It can get really sad when a few people that moved there after the track was already running can ruin weekend fun for so many!
Spent a few days there back in the 70 with my Dad ,great times, also Spartanburg and Greer Dragways. What about A & H, remember going there also
I grew up there going with my dad , weds nites & sunday afternoons . starting back in early 60\’s !! won my first race there !! can tell a lot of stories about the things I saw there !!!!….. some of my best memories are from that place !!!
I raced there in the early 90\’s. went with my dad in the 80\’s. The atmosphere was different from any other track I have been to in the carolina\’s!
What’s up tucker you the one that was mickys friend this is cary moved to the beach years ago shuffletow was every Sunday for me most of the time
We still ride down that track! Just sad its only on ATVs instead of true American muscle cars. All of us that grew up there and appreciated it truly miss it!
i was there,my friends was there.now all that being said you should show that nice big church that was going up that had alot to do with the drag strip being closed.i will never forget that place.
All because people moved around it. Then they didn\’t like the noise. Hello you moved next to a drag strip. It\’s sad that it went to waste. Lots of good times there!
It was a sad day for drag racing when this track closed. I lived approximately 5 miles away and the track was shutdown by people who moved there knowing that the track was there. Now I 485 runs directly adjacent to where the track is and creates more noise day after day then the 6 hours of noise that the drag strip created. Can we say conspiracy.
I ran my 69 Camaro there a couple of times in the late 70\’s and I definitely remember Bill and Ralph McConnell,Great people and Racers I think from Pineville NC .I miss Shuffletown Dragway and the memories!!!
Wayne, I\’m 70 years old now so my memory\’s not the best but I suppose you\’re talking about the McConnell Bothers in their Anglias, Mighty Mouse I & II, good cars. But the best and most innovative was Liston Kendall in his \’Blue Angel\’ Anglia. He\’s the 1st person I ever knew to split two top loader 4-speed transmissions, a close ratio and a wide ratio, and make one transmission with two 1st gears and two second gears. The car would hop down the track. I raced there in the mid to late 60\’s against people like Chuck Gallagher in the Young Ford Torino. The return lane was on the opposite side then, behind the starter\’s stand. Classification was done under the tree by the inspector, his name was \’Red\'(I think last name was Nichols). He owned a 6-cylinder world record holder in L/Stock.
Jerry , Roger McConnell ( is my dad Bill McConnell’s baby bro , still has the Mouse II & still races it today !!!
thanks Wayne , i still tell ppl that i’m from Pineville , now live in Lancaster S C & work in Pineville !! getting back into drag racing , been out a few years ?? still a few ppl around that love to hear the stories of those days !!!
I also ran there a couple times mid 70\’s.. \’63 Dodge 330 automatic.. 318 ci.. Was put in C class auto.. Knock out STOCK 327 / 250 and Ford 289\’s all day long.. BUT could never beat my bud\’s Plymouth Barracuda.. Believe it was a 273 ci w/198 hp.. I came close once on a trophy run .. but as you know close only counts in horseshoes. Fun times both in participation and just plain watching..
I won my first trophy there in 1963. C/Stock Automatic, 1957 Chevy Convertible. It was a 1/5 mile dirt track back then.
This breaks my heart had so many memories of my summers in NC watching my dad and uncle race on this track
This was a awesome track.. I have so many great memories of cooking out hanging out with friends and family… this is the track I learned how to drag race motorcycle on. Won a lot of money
This place was my dads life for years. His place was in the tower calling races. His name is Larry Wright. He loved drag racing. He\’s in a rest home in Shelby now. Sad to think of all the stories that\’ll never be remembered now. Back in the good ole days….
I love racing. I have never heard of this track. Although I did go to some of the round track races in Hemingway back in the 60.’s.
Some of the boys at school did some drag racing and I enjoyed watching it.
Unfortunately my husband at that time was not into racing, he had other interest.
In its day it looks like it was a cool place to go. Sorry it had to stop and grow up with natures beauty.
WOW! I drag raced on this track way back in the late 60\’s to early 70\’s. Love going to this strip back in those days. So much fun & history made. We use to joke about watching out for the chickens running across the track when you were racing.
My late brother an I used to race here some in the late 60\’s and early 70\’s, he in his 57\’ Chevy and myself in my 65\’ Mustang FB. I hated to see the place close down. I even saw a grudge race between Don Garlits and TV Tommy Ivo here also in the hey days of Shuffletown . Really miss it………..
The motorcycle races were always epic! Miss the hell out of that place.