Street Drag Racing is Legal and Encouraged Thursday Nights at the Madison International Speedway


"The best way to explain it is, think of the coolest car show you have ever been to, now imagine those cars in action," says Gregg McKarns, promoter for the Madison International Speedway speaking about the Thursday Street Drags.


When most of us think of cars racing at high speeds NASCAR comes to mind.

Not many can recall the drag racing heydays of the 1970s and 80s when names like "Big Daddy" Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney reigned supreme. The two competed against each regularly on the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) circuit back then. Muldowney broke through all kinds of barriers in the 1970s to be the first woman in a male dominated sport, decades before Danica Patrick became a household name for auto racing. Garlits, an automotive engineer by trade, invented the sport and competed competitively, winning numerous trophies for decades. Drag racing of then experimented with body types and materials, engine configurations, and fuel such as nitrous methane added to methanol.


How popular is the drag racing sport of today? "From a local track standpoint, we still have more fans come for the NASCAR Sanctioned oval races on Friday nights but have three to four times the competitors on Thursday nights for Drags," says McKarns. Madison International Speedway has been hosting drag racing in some form since

2016. It's sister track in La Crosse has hosted them since 2008.


What can race fans expect to see tearing up rubber on any given Thursday Night at the Madison International Speedway? It runs the gamut of street legal vehicles.

"There are Muscle Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles, Custom Cars, Imports and even Teslas,

it really is a catch-all of vehicles on a Thursday night," McKarns says.


How has the sport change since the days of "Big Daddy" Don Garlits and Shirley Muldowney? It still amazes McKarns how much technology has progressed and what the pioneers of the sport overcame. Locally, the track has grown a following with younger audiences. "We have been working to get our High School Bracket to grow and we had nearly 20 high schoolers compete last month. It is fun giving those kids along with everyone else a place to let loose," McKarns says. 



  • Photo Courtesy: Madison International Speedway

    Button

  • Photo Courtesy: Madison International Speedway

    Button


And about the legacy of "Big Daddy" Don Garlits and the sport he cultivated? McKarns believes the "Street Drags" are true to those roots. It is a "fun place for car people to gather and compete. Our lights are still hand controlled, there is no timing, no track prep, just line up and go," says McKarns.



DETAILS:


Thursday Night Street Drags run from now until September 8th. The drags begin at 7:30 PM and feature numerous brackets of 'One on One' Drag Racing on a 300 foot Drag Strip plus check out the Shine N' Show Contest. 


The Madison International Speedway is located at 1122 Sunrise Road, Oregon. 

For tickets visit https://misracing.com/tickets/ or

for more information call (608) 835-9700.