I just turned 65.
Frankly, I’m not 100% certain where I made my first pass down the 1/4 mile.
But, I think it was at the already closed Glans Falls Dragway in upstate NY in 1978.
I was living in NJ at the time and used to spend time during the summer at Lake St. Catherine in Wells Vt.
I used to drive right by where the track was, but it wasn’t obvious from the road exactly where.
Somehow I had learned where it was, and one time driving by I looked to see if it could find it…….and I did.
The track itself was still there. Two separate lanes with a grass strip between them.
I rode down the length of one, then back up the other.
When I got back to the starting line I thought…..”why not”?
I lined up and made a full out run.
That was on a 1977 Yamaha RD400.
I don’t know if that counts or not.
I went in the Air Force in December that year, and in April of 1979 I was stationed in Sacramento Ca.
A friend on base had a 1977 Yamaha RD400 like mine(which at that point was still in NJ).
He let me take it to the track, and I’m fairly sure that was the first vehicle I made “official” passes with.
The Wednesday night fun drags back then were $3.
Yup…….$3.
The $3 got you in the gate, and if you wanted to race you went thru tech.
That was a (small) trophy class.
The money class was $2 more, which went into a pot.
Winner got 75%, runner up got 25%.
I spent a lot of Wednesday nights there.
Looks like it was known as
“South Glens Falls Dragway”
