Seventy-Five / Eighty Drag strip - Limited Edition 1 of 10 Print

The Frederick County Appeals Board approved the request of Charles E. Wilcom of Monrovia in July 1960 to build a drag strip on thirty-three acres of farm land at the intersection of Maryland 75 and Maryland 80. They specified that he needed to build adequate entrance and exit roads. He moved quickly on the project and the track was ready for its grand opening on September 18, 1960. The race track was three miles south of New Market and was scheduled for racing each Sunday. Races were conducted and sponsored by the Maryland Timing Association. When the track first opened, there was little more than a farm field with an asphalt strip down the middle of it. One old timer recalled a memorable match race in 1963 between Ronnie Sox and Don Nicholson, purportedly the first time Sox was paid to match race: "Ronnie Sox matched raced 'Dyno Don' Nicholson on a Wednesday night, and the place was packed. Both ran white, Z-Eleven Impalas. Funny thing is I can't remember who won the 'best out of three' match. Probably each won at least one. The best thing was neither car would use the return road (it was pretty bad) and after each blast down the quarter mile they would come back using the race track. In those days the hot setup was to jack the front end up in the air while the car was sitting still. It was a sight to see those Z-Elevens come down the track the wrong way with the front ends sticking up in the air. Years later, I asked both Ronnie and Dyno who won, and they both said they did! I guess they ran so many match races they couldn't remember either." A news article written on the track's tenth anniversary (Frederick News Post, July 30, 1970) described its humble beginnings: "It was dusty, poorly organized and safety precautions almost non-existent. A wire fence on each side of the track, which fans pushed flat almost every week, was the only barrier between the race cars and the spectators. At the far end of the track was a sometimes near-sighted, sometimes unbiased judge to wave a flag in the winner's lane." Ten years later the pit area was paved, there were guard rails and chain link fences, and electronic timing equipment. Match races and special exhibition shows were frequent affairs. The track featured such drag racing luminaries as Ronnie Sox, Phil Bonner, Dick Landy, etc. In 1971, the track was sanctioned by NHRA. The track closed in 2005 as owner Bill Wilcom planned on making a residential development on the 400-acre farm. However a building moratorium imposed shortly after the track's closure froze his plans. The land sat unused until 2009, when the strip reopened for a few more years of racing until closing for good after the 2013 season. (source http://dragstriplist.com/maryland)

Print:Giclee on Fine Art Paper

Size:12 W x 9 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:17.25 W x 14.25 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.