Industrial City Drag Strip was the second place that hardcore hot rodders plied their trade of speed in the Las Vegas area. Located in Henderson and built as a bare bones strip for completion by local and private parties, it was the start of something big. The track held races twice a month and a couple times a year they would throw events big enough to draw names out of California like Jazzy Jim Nelson, Tony Waters, some kid named Jim Dunn, Art Chrisman, and a host of others. Looking at what this video is showing me, I’m saying that this was a 1959 race as the final round is shown and it is Waters in his fuel roadster running against Nelson in the gas powered Dragmaster machine.
The cool thing about the big events held at the track was that they paid the purses in Silver dollars rather than the savings bonds that most other tracks used. Sanctioned for a few years by the NHRA, it was nothing more than a fresh strip of asphalt across the street from a massive industrial complex that was cranking out everything from titanium to rocket fuel.
The track still apparently has remnants that can be seen. I may go take a look-see when I am out in Las Vegas this week for the NHRA National event and I may go live in the mountains halfway through SEMA week, so there’s two shots of potentially seeing what’s left of not much to start with.
This history is radical and I am in the middle of a killer new book that I’ll review next week called “Stardust International Raceway: Motorsports Meets the Mob in Vegas, 1965-1971.” Loads of killer history.
