Boy we always love to see stuff like this! A group hoping to build a new quarter mile drag strip in the Jamestown, North Dakota area just recently cleared a large zoning hurdle that would have stopped the project before it actually started. Jamestown is west of Fargo, North Dakota by about 100 miles and the group proposing the track is known as the Jamestown Drag Racing Association. They have run races on an airport runway in the past and now they wanted a dedicated facility. This is a good starting point for that to happen.
Outside of the normal local opposition for noise and traffic, the local government seems genuinely positive to support the project and the group hoping to make it happen. The track will be built (if it gets built) on a one mile long strip of farmland and the organizers told the assembled people at the meeting that the racing would be done in the daylight hours of the summer and on the weekends. We’re thinking that means they are going to skip a lighting system during the initial construction phase and that’s likely smart math. They want a nice, functional track to run their hot rods on, not the Taj Mahal and we dig the fact that they are realistic in their planning and expectations.
This is a scenario that has come up thousands of times over the years as local racers, hot rodders, and business people come in front of the people in charge and plead their case. We’re glad that this group has some traction and seems to be making forward progress!
With another track being built in Iowa and multiple facilities across the country pouring money into updates and new equipment, it is a good time to be a drag racer and drag racing fan.
Read: Proposed North Dakota drag strip clears zoning hurdle – onto the next step
North Dakota. ..? Not a bad idea, one week you could have the summer nationals and the next…ice drags!!
This is awesome news!! As of right now there is literally one dedicated drag strip in the ENTIRE state & that is Magic City Raceway in Minot & it’s only 1/8 mile.
Jamestown holds a yearly drag racing event at their municipal airport at the end of May but having a dedicated race track there will be great for the sport!
Jamestown is halfway between Bismarck & Fargo so it’s a pretty good location to get an influx of racers from all over the state
More dragstrips is a great thing, no matter what.
I’m sure both people that live in ND will be pleased!
Wish we had more here, and I’m 45min to the nearest track. All kidding aside, more tracks, investment, and people interested is a good thing, period!
Racing in Jamestown during daylight hours in the summer is no problem. Since it’s so far north, the mid-June sun comes up at 5:45am or so and doesn’t set until about 9:45 with twilight lasting until 10:30. Plenty of daylight.
Good luck!