History

In the early 1960s, Reed Draper, the owner of the Saginaw GM dealership and a respected community leader, visited a drag strip in the South and was instantly captivated by the thrill of the racing. Inspired, Draper was wanted to bring a drag strip to his own community.

In January of 1965, Draper began the process of opening a state of the art drag strip in the local community. Draper originally called the track Tri-City Drag Strip, but it was quickly changed to Tri-City Dragway only one month before the track’s opening. In May of 1965, construction began on the quarter mile drag strip adjacent to (on the east side of) the Tri-City Airport, now known as MBS International Airport. 

The track, renowned for being one of the longest and smoothest in the country and ranked among the top five fastest tracks in the world, officially opened on June 26, 1966. It was 4800 feet long and 60 feet wide with heavy steel guard rails running the entire quarter mile, featuring a six-lane wide staging area paved for 600 feet, a 50,000 square foot paved pit area, and a 1000-foot-long paved fire-up road leading to the staging area. 

The airconditioned and sound-proofed control tower provided unlimited visibility for the judges and officials of the entire drag strip from the third floor. The managers office compromised the second floor while the first floor was utilized as a storage area for trophies and miscellaneous equipment. A special press radio, television deck, and VIP area was available on the top of the 35-foot control tower. 

The track was initially equipped with cutting-edge equipment and included the Chrondek Electra dual lane timing equipment transistorized with digital read outs for elapsed time and miles per hour. An electro writer used to be stationed at the end of the track and would write the times and miles per hour to the control tower for announcement over the speakers. The track was also the first in the nation with automatic prestaging and the HS-5 handicap starting system, which allowed for all handicapping and the races to be started from the control tower. 

At opening, Tri-City Dragway had modern restrooms with hot water, snack stands and play areas for children. From opening until closing, the track was sponsored by the Coca Cola company who supplied all beverages for the concession stands. The facility could accommodate 3,000 spectators in its bleachers. However, by 1967, due to a surge in demand, the seating capacity was expanded to 5,000 to accommodate the growing number of visitors.

By 1967, the track operated under NHRA sanctions, running every Sunday from April through October. During its peak, the track attracted major exhibition, match racers, and drawing large crowds. Dragster pilot Chuck Kurzawa, who raced fuelers there from 1967 to 1974, considered it the best strip in Michigan. It is known that many big-name racers began their careers here, including Connie Kalitta, Shirley Muldowney, Al Bergler, and Ben Wenzel.

The track, now hollowed grounds, was the site of a couple tragic accidents. On July 28, 1973, John Sejbl, a 28-year-old junior fuel dragster driver, was thrown from his dragster "Whine and Roses" during a race. Traveling at 150 miles per hour, Sejbl's car hit a dip, swerved out of control, and exploded upon hitting a guardrail. He died three days later from severe head injuries on July 31, 1973, at St. Luke's Hospital in Saginaw.

Another fatal accident occurred on September 7, 1974, when Richard Place, a resident of Oak Park, Oakland County, Michigan, was killed while driving a new top fuel dragster built by Logghe Chassis. The car, traveling at about 190 miles per hour, flipped during a solo speed run after the rear airfoil broke off, jamming the left wheel and causing multiple flips. Place was pronounced dead on arrival at Saginaw St. Luke’s Hospital. It was later reported that the car was unfinished and not ready for competition, leading to a lawsuit against Logghe Chassis by Place’s father.

The track closed in 1978 due to a conflict between racers and strip management. Sportsman racers had paid entry fees for an event canceled by rain in the spring of 1978. Apparently, the strip manager refused to honor the rain-canceled entry fees at a subsequent event, leading to a racer boycott that lasted many weeks.   Track management attempted to create a committee to fix the issue in the rules but fell short of expectations. After a phone call with management, protesters believed they had reached a solution and would be back to racing the following weekend, but that quickly changed. After completing just 11 of 20 races in the season, the track announced it would close its doors indefinitely on August 19th, 1978, due to “interest in drag racing declining across the country.” Management also stated, “It doesn’t make sense to use the property only 20 days a year when it can be used some other way for 365 days.” Since then, the facility has remained closed to racing. 

In 1990, the Courbier family attempted to reopen the track but fell short of approval by just one vote from the airport board, despite investing thousands of dollars in legal fees. The airport expressed concerns over noise and how the bright lights emitted by the track could distract pilots attempting to land. Although the airport was struggling financially, the commission member, who voted against leasing the property, stated that the airport wanted the land for their future master plan to bring an airline hub to the area. Thus, they decided not to renew the lease for the pit area, which was on airport-owned land. In 2001, the airport would purchase the remaining land from Draper that included a section of the strip and parking area. Soon after purchasing, the airport would order the destruction of half of the strip due to concerns among planes landing on it and individuals racing.

In the 1990s, local police departments and Delta College Police Academy began using the track for defensive driving training, a practice that continues to this day. General Motors and Nexteer also joined the movement at the track and began testing their products there. In 2015, Halla Mechatronics, a motor control research company, began using the facility for research purposes. 

Rumors of Dow's efforts to revive the dragstrip in the early 2000s surfaced but it is said that they faced challenges in obtaining a long-term lease from the airport authority. Anonymous sources confirm that a young individual attempted to reopen the track in 2018 but disappeared shortly after initial meetings with the airport. Subsequent attempts to reopen the track remained stagnant in recent years, with no discussions or proposals regarding its revival.

In the summer of 2023, Tri-City Dragway made a remarkable return to the public eye after 45 years of closure. This revival was driven by Eagle Scout Tony Svetic, who organized a car show on the premises as his final scout project. The event was a resounding success, attracting thousands of attendees and showcasing over 400 show cars, marking a significant reawakening of the track.