It is being reported that Tulsa Raceway Park, recently a stop on the 2011 Hot Rod Magazine Drag Week tour has entered into a sales agreement with a mineral company that will literally turn the facility into a gravel pit. Boy does that suck. Tulsa has, in recent years hosted IHRA national events, the NHRA Unleashed series, and a weekly racing program. This is a major blow to the drag racing scene in the Tulsa area as TRP is recognized as the best quarter mile facility in the area.
Outside of the immediate impact, Tulsa Raceway Park, formerly known as Tulsa International Raceway, has an important place in drag racing history. In 1972 Don Garlits and Jim Tice got together to throw the famous PRA Challenge ’72. The event was a direct attack on the US Nationals (then known simply as “The Nationals”) due to Garlits’ and other racers’ opinion that the NHRA was not paying near enough in purse money to professional racers. Jim Tice, being the savvy dude that he was, fronted a pile of cash to pull the event off and created the richest professional drag race in history to that point.
His gamble paid off. The race decimated the fields at Indy and was host to some of the greatest fields in the history of the sport. If drag racing “all time” fields are ever created, one need look no further than the qualifying sheets at Tulsa in 1972. The NHRA soon amended their purse structure, lending creedence to the success of the event. As an example, Tom McEwen was paid about $38,000 to win Tulsa. Gary Beck won about $3,000 to win the NHRA Nationals. A couple years later, that $3,000 turned into $18,000.
So if and when Tulsa Raceway Park becomes a God forsaken gravel pit, gone will be both a drag strip and the scene of what can be rightfully be considered one of the greatest drag races of all time.
It is a damn shame….a damn shame indeed.
F*&^%$#@!!!!!
ANOTHER ONE DOWN!!
Oklahoma is rapidly becoming one of the worst states in America to be a Bangshifter.
I was at that 72 race. I guess the locals will have to run up to Joplin or OKC to play. What a bad deal this is.
Track owner Dan Guterman, September 27, 2011:
“I love the rumor mill. It has not sold and it’s not going to be an industrial park. We did sell an acre up front the US Cellular though. We also talked to Bells about some of the land, but it wasn’t in their price range.”
Dan Guterman (one week later):
“It is with great sadness that we announce the closing of Tulsa Raceway Park, effective October 24, 2011”
“No one lied. The track hasn’t sold.”
Reports on the Yellow Bullet Forum:
“A letter of intent has been signed to purchase TRP. Looks like APAC has bought it to turn into a rock Quarry. It’s a sad day for racers in Tulsa. Last race will be October 23rd.”
. . .
” NO CASH HAS CHANGED HANDS YET
MR MARTIN IS TRYING TO LEASE THE TRACK FROM APAC
BUT I AM SURE ITS GOING TO BE TURNED INTO A ROCK PIT FOR APAC.
Tulsa World, October 5, 2011
“The decision to close was made within the last two months, [Guterman] said.
Just now watching my DVR,from 10/02/11. Guterman
yaking about all the improvements made to the
facility. &%$#WTF!
APAC-Central Inc. is a division of Oldcastle Materials, Inc.
900 Ashwood Parkway
Suite 700
Atlanta, GA 30338
(770) 522-5600
(800) 241-7074 toll free
(770) 522-5608 fax
APAC-Central, Inc.
4150 S. 100th E Avenue, Suite 300
Tulsa, OK 74158
(918) 438-2020, (918) 438-5826 fax
“Oldcastle Materials is the leading vertically integrated supplier of aggregates, asphalt, ready mixed concrete and paving services with 1,200 locations nationwide.”
“Oldcastle Materials is an involved, engaged civic partner in the communities where we live and work. Our companies strive to safeguard the health, safety and environmental well-being of their neighborhoods, and our employees have close personal ties with their local schools, churches and businesses. [But apparently NOT DRAG STRIPS . . . .]”
“Improving Biodiversity Through Wildlife Habitat Sites ?
CRH plc, headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, . . .
A Eurotop 300 company, CRH plc has operations in 32 countries, employing approximately 90,000 people at over 3,200 locations. . . .
In the United States, Oldcastle, Inc., the holding company for CRH?
Tulsa Raceway Park Director of Marketing, Ginger Martin: “TRP may not be any longer after a few weeks, but there is still hope the new owners will be able to be talked into leasing it to some investors who are willing to keep the track open.”
“Dan [Guterman] will be making a statement very soon, so don’t think this is easy for him either. He has to do what is right for him and his family and business, and keeping the doors open while losing money year after year isn’t doing that.”
Sigh… I’ll be there in spirit for the last race. Somebody please make a banzai run for me, okay?
Meanwhile, I’m holding out hope that the track survives somehow. Ya never know…
Agent 1320 claims NO gravel pit, just some sort of storage facility. And that there are serious negotiations with someone to lease the track.
KOTV, Channel 6, Tulsa
“Ginger Martin, Director of Marketing for the track, said that due to a signed confidentiality agreement, track management has no comment at this time.”
“Reached at his museum in Ocala, Florida, Garlits said’I’ll be darned,’ when News On 6 told him of the impending closure.’
“‘That’s a sad day, when Tulsa closes,’ Garlits said. ‘I’ve been racing there since the 60s.'”
“Garlits predicts other major tracks, and not just drag strips, will suffer the same fate.”
“‘Sign of the times. There’ll be some more closures, you can bet on it.'”
The reporter who filed that report contacted me for quotes with respect to the track’s historical significance to the history of drag racing. Unfortunately, I was not able to get him before his deadline.
I certainly had some things to say.
will reportedly be a private, pre-paid, invitation-only event for members of the so-called “Duck Drags” forum. see http://www.duckuscrapus.com/Duck_Drags.html
What a lousy way to go out of business.
“I have pretty much nailed down Gene Carter making the last pass.”
“Supposedly Dan [Guterman] signed a “intent to sell” contract and the deal is out of his hands. The contract is on the quary’s desk. It just needs to be signed and the check has to be deposited. More or less a done deal. So the actual sale hasn’t been completed, but there is no turning back unless the buyer decides to back out.”
That APAC and Guterman are going to sell a commemorative t-shirt that says “Anybody can RESTORE a drag strip, but it takes a REAL MAN TO CUT ONE UP.”
(Do you suppose Garlits and Muldowney will autograph mine?)
Tulsa World, April 17, 2007:
“The president of Mapleoak Properties in Tulsa, [Dan] Guterman’s interest in motor sports developed early, competing in the Midnight Drags in 1980 at what was then Tulsa International Raceway. He also tried road racing and was a co-owner of Hallett Motor Racing Circuit before buying TRP.”
(Side note: according to na-motorsports.com: ” it is rumored that only the cost of removing the vast number of tires that constitute the main crash barriers has prevented [Hallett] from being sold and the land converted to other uses.” Was that another Dan “investment” plan thankfully foiled?)
KOKI Fox 23
“Tulsa Raceway Park has not said what will happen with the property but racing blog bangshift.com has said it’s been sold to a mineral company.”
Kim Jackson on the KTUL blog:
“I raced here the very first day this track opened. That was July the fourth 1965 . . . ”
“Wayne [Wellhousen] says he doesn’t believe the strip is closing. He does, however, believe it will be sold and operated under new management.
“It’s been that way for years. It’s been bought and sold and leased and it’s had ten or fifteen different people running it over the years.”
I would imagine that any of our fellow Dragers would do anything to keep our strip. Keep the cost for the Fans the same. For us fellow Dragers double our entry fees because driving 2 hours away will cost way more than that. To my fellow Dragers lets let them know what we are willing to do. Lets do what we can do to save our track. Thanks
My father raced there when he was a young adult and passed away in 2007.I inherated his 67 nova pro street.Which is currently being finished to race.I was really looking forward to taking him on a ride down that strip again.
he just Took the money and ran he made money look at all the new thing he did to it it was just a easy thing for him to do
What a sad message, I saw Garlits match race there in `73 (?), I still have the pictures I took with a 110 camera, yikes I am old……