There are few things we like reporting on more than race tracks being fixed up, reopened, and improved and that is why we are keeping you updated on places like Dragway 42 and Galot Motorsports Park in North Carolina. Galot Motorsports Park (formerly Dunn-Benson Dragway) is an eighth mile track with a ton of history that was getting pretty long in the tooth before being bought last year by Earl Wells. Wells has made an incredible financial commitment to the place and through his plans is turning the facility into a mecca for eighth mile drag race and truck/tractor pulling as fast door slammers and insanely powerful tractors are the two realms that Galot Motorsports competes in. So what have they done so far? Only completely torn up the drag strip, ripped out the guard rails, removed the score boards and begun replacing them (literally) from the ground up.
It was last fall when the strip was ripped out and the site work was begun. Winter obviously interrupted things as the Carolinas had one of their toughest bouts with the cold months in years. As soon as the weather turned, site work picked right back up and now the track is officially a “track” again as the all-concrete strip was poured over the last couple of weeks. Not only is this a concrete eighth mile, it is a temperature controlled concrete eighth mile. As best we can tell, the temp control runs a few hundred feet down the track and is a radiant style situation. Liquid (water?) is run through the piping laid into the concrete and this will allow the track to control the physical temperature of the surface. This is really important on days when it is very hot or cold. Being able to warm a cold track will make running late into the year possible and it will certainly help safety on those cold nights. Being able to cool a blazing hot track to prevent it from becoming a grease pit is equally awesome for the blazing heat of the summer months. Bandimere Raceway outside of Denver was the first track to use a system like this in the US years ago and now they are becoming more popular. The addition of it at Galot stands as a testament of Earl Wells commitment to build a track that will be a hub of high quality drag racing for decades to come.
We’ve got a bunch of photos from the Galot Motorsports Park construction site below. It is pretty awesome to see it all coming together and we know Satch Gragg and all the crew at the facility are looking forward to the day when they can send cars down the strip in anger again!
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE PHOTO UPDATES FROM GALOT MOTORSPORTS PARK — GREAT STUFF HAPPENING THERE!
Got to love a track thats owned by one guy, especially when he’s not afraid to make a decision and spend money! Sounds like it’ll be a great place to race.