Killer Video: Watch The Very First Passes Ever Made At The Texas Motorplex In 1986 – Invite Only Night, Bare Concrete!


Killer Video: Watch The Very First Passes Ever Made At The Texas Motorplex In 1986 – Invite Only Night, Bare Concrete!

So today is the second day of racing at the AAA of Texas NHRA Fall Nationals, an event that’s been part of the schedule for decades. In fact, it was 32 years ago that the Texas Motorplex opened as the premier drag racing facility in the world. It was all concrete which was a first for a purpose built quarter mile facility in the country. It had seating like no other place at the time, it had amenities like no other drag strip, it had that massive drive through tower, and it rose out of the Ennis, Texas ground like a monument to the sport it was dedicated to serve as fans approached it for the first national event decades ago. But what about opening night. What was that like? The below video does not show opening night, it actually shows something cooler than that.

What you are going to see below are the very first and we mean VERY FIRST passes ever made down the quarter mile at the Texas Motorplex. Billy Meyer who is the owner of the place now as he was then invited some local racers and hot rodders to give the place a try. There’s not a stitch of rubber on the concrete track, there’s no paint on the walls, and if you look at the rooms in the lighted tower, they are empty. This was apparently about testing out the timing system and having some fun, which virtually everyone did until someone wrecked the hell out of his car, which you will see right around 6:17 into the video.

The one thing that was so tricky about the Texas Motorplex when it opened but has been largely mitigated with modern track prep procedures was the width of the groove on the concrete surface. Asphalt tracks have always been more forgiving to racers who got out into the marbles. Concrete does not provide the same grip with no rubber on it. Being that this track had NOTHING on it, the guys running the dragsters and super class looking cars had to have been white knuckling it, then there was the crash.

This place changed the face and direction of drag racing. We’re happy that we’ll be there for its 30th anniversary and this video is way, way cool!

We cannot embed the video. Click the image below you can watch it!

motorplex-mustang

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