George Ray, the owner and operator of George Ray’s Wildcat Hot Rod Dragstrip in Paragould, Arkansas, died on December 5th. George ran what many consider to be the coolest drag strip on planet Earth for decades and cemented himself as a drag racing legend by maintaining everything, even the rules at the strip, as if it were still the early 1960s.
We’ve been lucky enough to have visited the track and actually met the man himself. Chad more recently than I. According to an amazing rememberance piece written by drag racing historian/announcer/television personality Brett Kepner, George’s wife Bonnie will continue to operate the track. You owe it to yourself as a gearhead to find a way to see this place in person. It is beyond all description and something that can only be experienced first hand.
The Kepner piece, which appears at DragRacingOnline, is simply awesome and is required reading for any and all BangShifters with a sense of history, not just of drag racing, but of America.
