Southern California may have been the birthplace of drag racing, but the sport really grew up and spread its wings in the Midwest, in states like Michigan, Illinois and Indiana.
Michigan in particular has long had a significant heritage of drag racing both on-track and – well, let’s be honest – street racing. To many, Detroit was like Los Angeles East, with numerous legit on-track and illegal on-street races.
What’s more, because of its location, Michigan also attracted drag racers from north of the border in Canada, many of whom would tow their vehicles across the Michigan state line to race on-street and on-track in “the States.”
Speaking of on-track racing, numerous drag strips still operate today in the Wolverine State. There’s Ubly Dragway, Darana Dragway (formerly Milan Dragway), Northern Michigan Dragway in Bear Lake, Lapeer International Dragway, Onondaga Dragway and Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, among others.
And then there’s arguably the best track in the state, U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, site of this weekend’s inaugural Dodge NHRA Great Lakes Nationals presented by Mopar.
Marking the first NHRA national event to be held in the state in 66 years, the Great Lakes Nationals will play a key role in determining champions in most professional and semi-professional classes as the kickoff event for the six-race NHRA Countdown to the Championship.
The last NHRA national event in Michigan was held in 1960 at Detroit Dragway. That track also holds a distinction that could easily win you several bar bets: the 1959 and 1960 NHRA national events at Detroit Dragway (closed in 1998) were the U.S. Nationals before the “Big Go” moved in 1961 to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, where it’s been held ever since.
And, for the record, Detroit Dragway was actually the fourth of five different sites to host the U.S. Nationals, following the inaugural Big Go at Great Bend (Kansas) Memorial Airport in 1955, the Kansas City (Mo.) Municipal Airport in 1956, Oklahoma State Fairgrounds in 1957-58 and then Detroit in 1959 and 1960.
Here’s another bit of Michigan drag racing-related trivia for you: The NHRA chose Detroit Dragway because it wanted a venue closer to Detroit, aka the Motor City, the hub of the U.S. auto industry, with all the “Big Three” major manufacturers: Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.
Michigan is also home to some of the biggest names in the sport (either currently or formerly), including Connie Kalitta, Doug and the late Scott Kalitta (all from Ypsilanti), Wayne Gapp (Livonia), Dick LaHaie (DeWitt), E.J. “The Michigan Madman” Potter (Ithaca) and Al Berger (Detroit).
Also hailing from the Wolverine State were Maynard Rupp and Roy Steffey (both from Detroit), who were among the first drivers to break the seven-second barrier in Funny Car, and Serop “Setto” Postoian from Detroit, who won back-to-back Top Fuel titles in the 1957 and 1958 World Series of Drag Racing.
No historical synopsis about Michigan would be complete without its legendary street culture. While street racing has been frowned upon – and even outlawed – by countless communities around the country, Detroit has historically been one of the most notable venues where two cars would pull up to a traffic light, rev their engines and when the green light flashed, off they went for usually one or two blocks to crown the winner.
The most notable illegal street racing venue was Woodward Avenue, a 21.5-mile straight-line route from downtown Detroit to the northern suburb of Pontiac, otherwise known as the M-1 trunk line. While police crackdowns have all but eliminated street racing on Woodward, the culture of the sport remains with the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, which brings out car owners for an annual event to show off their freshly buffed and cleaned street cars.
As for this weekend’s venue, U.S. 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, about 30 miles south of Grand Rapids near the middle of the state, it was built in 1962 and has been in operation ever since. While it has held a number of IHRA drag racing and other sanctioning body events, co-owners Stephanie and Jason Peterson have long coveted hosting an NHRA national event.
That opening finally came through when the rival IHRA purchased Maple Grove Raceway near Reading, Pa., last December. Maple Grove had been the historical starting point for the NHRA Countdown to the Championship for most of the event’s history since its debut in 2007.
But when the IHRA purchased Maple Grove, the NHRA chose not to renew its contractual relationship with the track and sought out a new venue to host. That’s when U.S. 131 Motorsports Park stepped up to the plate and here we are this weekend.
While Friday and Sunday will both start and round out the weekend’s racing action at Martin, one thing will be curious to watch: football is a religion in Michigan, particularly the University of Michigan football team, and the Wolverines will be playing Saturday 140 miles away at home in Ann Arbor vs. UTEP at 3:30 p.m. ET. So don’t be surprised if you see a number of fans in the stands in Martin clutching pocket radios or TVs to listen to or watch the game while also watching the race in-person.
Those same fans may want to make sure they bring some extra batteries for their radios: if they stick around for late afternoon/early evening action at Martin, Michigan State will visit Notre Dame (7:30 p.m. ET).
