This was the first drag strip I ever raced on, that was at Mopar vs. Chevy in the summer of 1994. My 1974 Dodge Challenger ran 12.85 at 103 MPH on the motor and 12.03 at 113 MPH on the bottle, at 19 years old in my first car I thought I was hot stuff! LOL! (It was a pretty cool first car!) A couple years later I was back in my Dodge Dart and running 12.11 at 112 MPH on the motor and 11.40 at 117 MPH on the bottle. Nothing special but it was fun for sure! During one of the trips down there from Tucson my friend and I left my car at the track, went into town, hit castles and coasters, had dinner and tried to find a hotel but was unsuccessful. And by the time we made it back to the track it was closed. We ended up sleeping in the truck in front of the gate. LOL! Definitely great memories from that track! Thanks for an awesome video!
@@DSMerkonmyface No problem, thanks for sharing such a great video! I didn't race there a lot but I'll never forget the few times that I did! I have an old home video of that day, it was my very first time on the drag strip and with one gambler buy back I went all the way to the final but fell asleep on the starting line and got tree'd really bad and lost! Hahaha! That was just in the gambler series I think it was called, it wasn't the main Mopar vs. Chevy part of the show. Regardless, I had a blast! Two years later Speedworld Motoplex was the first place I took my 68 Dodge Dart to after I built it. Like I said, definitely some great memories from that place! I might go watch that old home video now! LOL! Thanks again for the cool video!
Man what an era that is passing before our eyes. My first visit to "Mel Larson's" was back in 1977. My friend Ricky Andrews was running his silver 1964 Plymouth Savoy 426 Max Wedge 4 speed. I also had several other friends and acquaintances running cars out there that day. Paul Schwartz running his stock Vitamin C orange 1970 440 6 Barrel Road Runner and Charlie Grant running his souped up silver 1968 Hemi Super Bee. It was quite a day, but there would be many more to follow, and what incredible days they were! Somehow, I knew they were very special times. We were living in the last days of a very rarefied period in America and I could feel them slowly slipping away. HA! Man did we make sure we made the most of life back then! The three day races were always a mixture of racing, partying, and mad dashes into town for a replacement part to fix the broken "Race Car" Guys chasing girls...and vice versa, lol! Cook outs, camping at the track, fist fights, practical joking each other, Grudge Races, AHRA, ADRA races, Jet cars, Bracket cars, Class cars, Rails, Nitrous cars, Super Charged cars, and daily beaters all trying to get to the electric eyes at the "Big End" before the guy (Or Gal) in the next lane!!! Truly, GOOD TIMES! Like Eddie Money sings, ♫ I wanna go back! And do it all over!!! ♫
@@DSMerkonmyface What an amazing thing you have done here. The video and the story you wrote are a wonderful rememberance of not only your Father but of and incredible era here in the Valley of the Sun. Thank you for doing this!
Great video and cool song. I visited this place a few times in the Early 2000's and always enjoyed it more than Firebird. Sad to see another grassroots track being absorbed back into the earth.
I'm sure we all liked Speedworld better:) although grateful Firebird is still here we always did prefer Speedworld when there was a choice. thanks for commenting Al
I have a lot of memories there as well. I grew up watching my father race there and going to the 3 day event weekends on the holidays. Every weekend for the longest time, this is where we spent it. My dad hasn't raced in so long but he still has the car. I remember Bob would have someone ride a scooter down the track and throw candy out for the kids.
Bob was a cool guy, thanks for sharing your memories with us, I remember even standing in the drivers meetings as a kid Bob never booted me out even though I wasn't a driver. I wish things were simple again.
This saddens me to no end, grew up here in the late 80's and early 90's, and worked/raced there from 2000-2012...too many memories to know where to start! It's so sad to see something so near and dear to so many people get taken away, and forced to let it sit and rot away!
Aj its developers and local politicians..did you know about planned mall few miles away..size of arrowhead..mormon financers involved..look at exit ramps off 303 grand...huge for that reason....
@@DSMerkonmyface you did good on filming the tract yes but..why did it close who sold trak users out..??? Answer developers.go do drone footage now...homes moving in.cant have a noisy racetrack aroound.is there a secret plot to steal wittmann land ???? Answer fffffff yess there is....
Just do not forget Bob and Cee Curly for what they did to resurrect this place in the late '80's. It was a great sportsman track. It is disheartening to see how fast it deteriorated. We had two great tracks within 90 minutes of each other at the time, it was great.
I read further in the comments and see that there is remembrance to Bob there, that's good. Also was Bobbi Weatherman in that time period. She was very influential and quite tireless in her efforts to promote grassroots racing. Sadly, in 1990 we lost Bobbi to breast cancer and I know that I think of her often as well as Curly, that crazy California fuel altered pioneer. He tried valiantly to establish a good sportsman track out there yet competing political factions among racers back then prevented any positive forward motion. He at least went to his grave knowing he did what he intended to do. Also, great sound track you plugged in there.
My father raced this track many times. It was a long haul as we live in central Cali. He raced SS/AA with a '"68 hemi Barracuda; better known as the "Hemi Count Down". Nice quad video by the way; that's one of my hobbies.
When I was a kid, it was called PRP or Phoenix Raceway Park. On Saturday nights, they would let us kids in for free. Sort of, a payment for the sound disturbance. I remember it as just the drag strip. When I was old enough to race my car, they had added the sand drag and the midget track.
az kid yeah I went to college in the late 80s in Phoenix and PRP was my place to be. I remember Bob well. then coletti or something like that owned it. what happened?
Hi, the track was originally established and run by Mel Larson, also of NASCAR fame, many years ago. It was designated as an emergency air strip. It was known simply as Mel Larson's. I think it may have been even before Beeline Dragway.
They all have a price..wonder how much himm and other owners received to sellout..leased land or whatever.did a group muscle these guys out.builders swarming just south.now surprise.not wittmann..
I have so many memories, watching my dad Bobby Reeder race his 72 cuda "Working Overtime" , the school drags between American technical center, uti, I believe there was one more auto mechanic school as well. working the time booth. boy I thought I was big stuff working that time booth. I have been trying to find out if anyone remembers the Bobby Reeder memorial drags starting in 1988. I believe they did them for 5 years. or on how to get info on my daddy's eta number.
Was anyone apart of the PRP division 7 team in the 90s? Fun times! The Steppin Back Nostalgia Drags and ADRA events were always a good time too. I worked the time slip booth for a long time as a kid.
I went to adra events with my father he won adra rookie of the year 2002, I remember the midnight drags , it was for street racers and it was nice and cold at night during the winter , cars loved it!
My uncle had a 1989 ford ranger with nitrous and it was the definition of sleeper had a grey hood with scoop and a black water based paint body best time was like 11.249 and it beat a brand new ford lightning some of you may know him his name was Lynn pringle
This is very cool. Definitely made me sniffle a bit. It's amazing to me how fast nature is reclaiming the paved areas. It's also really sad how the buildings were vandalized. People have no respect nowadays. What drone did you use? I'm thinking of getting one. Yours seem to fly well and take really nice pictures! What is the range?
thanks Marvin, definitely sad to see a place where good times happened come to a sad end like this. I used a phantom 3 professional, the new phantom 4 is coming out soon though so I'd wait for that , it has a few more features like obstacle avoidance. the range on the Phantom 3 professional is over 3 miles on a good day .
Great video, something very sad about an abandoned drag strip, closed down because of major facility upgrades demanded by the local government...support your local track guys.
+DSMerkonmyface thanks. unbelievable story, the local government lied to these people, stole their money and ultimately shut this track down for no good reason. IF anyone cares, visit their FB page and read the documents in the pic section. Our governments are out of control and stories like this are far too common these days. This track was in operation for over a half a century and made a ton of memories for people and the government has stolen the ability for that to continue. In addition, the EPA is trying to steal our etire hobby, government officials are drunk with power and we must fight back or all dragstrips will look like this one. rant over...
I couldn't tell you because I dont know ,if you click the link at the top of the description it'll explain why it closed, if that helps any... thanks for watching .
this video definitely made me have flashbacks, I remember making a run and I was scared I wouldn't know where to go once the strip ends... it ended up being easier than I thought and more fun than I even expected. this was my dad's favorite place to race :-) he won often... Mo power with Mopar
I remember when I first driven a Jr. dragster here in 2012 and I have a lot memories like one where my cousin crashed his car and another one was when I used to do big wheels here and this track was really the backbone to my racing career I love this track so much I will miss it a lot 😭😭
@phxxr650r the insurance company.lol you people are soo asleep to reality...ins companies are dime a dozen..factoid: ins companies are money driven...he who has fatter wallet wins...payoff anyone??? They did it to me when i refused to sign..fire department expansion into my area..no fire hydrant near by.really? First 15 years was no problem.wittmann is being land grabbed....look is that surprise az annexing land illegally on speedworlds backdoor
This was the first drag strip I ever raced on, that was at Mopar vs. Chevy in the summer of 1994. My 1974 Dodge Challenger ran 12.85 at 103 MPH on the motor and 12.03 at 113 MPH on the bottle, at 19 years old in my first car I thought I was hot stuff! LOL! (It was a pretty cool first car!) A couple years later I was back in my Dodge Dart and running 12.11 at 112 MPH on the motor and 11.40 at 117 MPH on the bottle. Nothing special but it was fun for sure! During one of the trips down there from Tucson my friend and I left my car at the track, went into town, hit castles and coasters, had dinner and tried to find a hotel but was unsuccessful. And by the time we made it back to the track it was closed. We ended up sleeping in the truck in front of the gate. LOL! Definitely great memories from that track! Thanks for an awesome video!
Thanks for watching and sharing your memories of the track , sounds like a night you'll never forget thats for sure 👍
@@DSMerkonmyface No problem, thanks for sharing such a great video! I didn't race there a lot but I'll never forget the few times that I did! I have an old home video of that day, it was my very first time on the drag strip and with one gambler buy back I went all the way to the final but fell asleep on the starting line and got tree'd really bad and lost! Hahaha! That was just in the gambler series I think it was called, it wasn't the main Mopar vs. Chevy part of the show. Regardless, I had a blast! Two years later Speedworld Motoplex was the first place I took my 68 Dodge Dart to after I built it. Like I said, definitely some great memories from that place! I might go watch that old home video now! LOL! Thanks again for the cool video!
Man what an era that is passing before our eyes. My first visit to "Mel Larson's" was back in 1977. My friend Ricky Andrews was running his silver 1964 Plymouth Savoy 426 Max Wedge 4 speed. I also had several other friends and acquaintances running cars out there that day. Paul Schwartz running his stock Vitamin C orange 1970 440 6 Barrel Road Runner and Charlie Grant running his souped up silver 1968 Hemi Super Bee. It was quite a day, but there would be many more to follow, and
what incredible days they were! Somehow, I knew they were very special times. We were living in the last days of a very rarefied period in America and I could feel them slowly slipping away. HA! Man did we make sure we made the most of life back then! The three day races were always a mixture of racing, partying, and mad dashes into town for a replacement part to fix the broken "Race Car" Guys chasing girls...and vice versa, lol! Cook outs, camping at the track, fist fights, practical joking each other, Grudge Races, AHRA, ADRA races, Jet cars, Bracket cars, Class cars, Rails, Nitrous cars, Super Charged cars, and daily beaters all trying to get to the electric eyes at the "Big End" before the guy (Or Gal) in the next lane!!! Truly, GOOD TIMES! Like Eddie Money sings, ♫ I wanna go back! And do it all over!!! ♫
My father was all Mopar
@@DSMerkonmyface What an amazing thing you have done here. The video and the story you wrote are a wonderful rememberance of not only your Father but of and incredible era here in the Valley of the Sun. Thank you for doing this!
I went here all my life I miss this place so much😭
I remember the BustinLoose team being there , the car that sticks out to me was an Arrow?
Great video and cool song. I visited this place a few times in the Early 2000's and always enjoyed it more than Firebird. Sad to see another grassroots track being absorbed back into the earth.
I'm sure we all liked Speedworld better:) although grateful Firebird is still here we always did prefer Speedworld when there was a choice.
thanks for commenting Al
I have a lot of memories there as well. I grew up watching my father race there and going to the 3 day event weekends on the holidays. Every weekend for the longest time, this is where we spent it. My dad hasn't raced in so long but he still has the car. I remember Bob would have someone ride a scooter down the track and throw candy out for the kids.
Bob was a cool guy, thanks for sharing your memories with us, I remember even standing in the drivers meetings as a kid Bob never booted me out even though I wasn't a driver.
I wish things were simple again.
This saddens me to no end, grew up here in the late 80's and early 90's, and worked/raced there from 2000-2012...too many memories to know where to start! It's so sad to see something so near and dear to so many people get taken away, and forced to let it sit and rot away!
thanks for sharing your memories of the track, it will always be missed by us who remember the good times.
Aj its developers and local politicians..did you know about planned mall few miles away..size of arrowhead..mormon financers involved..look at exit ramps off 303 grand...huge for that reason....
EXCELLENT and very sad at the same time...
Someone needs to open this thing back up!
This is the best video I've seen about an abandoned Strip! Great music, great footage, and great story!! Thanks for posting!
Roger Corriveau thanks ! Your comment means alot.
Great story..he didnt explain a thing..looks like these owners soldout.wonder to whom???
@@DSMerkonmyface you did good on filming the tract yes but..why did it close who sold trak users out..??? Answer developers.go do drone footage now...homes moving in.cant have a noisy racetrack aroound.is there a secret plot to steal wittmann land ???? Answer fffffff yess there is....
@@antoniogorgoglione1621 there is a link in the description explaining the closing.
Thanks for watching.
I used to watch pinks episodes on this dragstrip
That was one LONG drag strip!
At this speed lol
Just do not forget Bob and Cee Curly for what they did to resurrect this place in the late '80's. It was a great sportsman track. It is disheartening to see how fast it deteriorated. We had two great tracks within 90 minutes of each other at the time, it was great.
I read further in the comments and see that there is remembrance to Bob there, that's good. Also was Bobbi Weatherman in that time period. She was very influential and quite tireless in her efforts to promote grassroots racing. Sadly, in 1990 we lost Bobbi to breast cancer and I know that I think of her often as well as Curly, that crazy California fuel altered pioneer. He tried valiantly to establish a good sportsman track out there yet competing political factions among racers back then prevented any positive forward motion. He at least went to his grave knowing he did what he intended to do.
Also, great sound track you plugged in there.
My father raced this track many times. It was a long haul as we live in central Cali. He raced SS/AA with a '"68 hemi Barracuda; better known as the "Hemi Count Down". Nice quad video by the way; that's one of my hobbies.
thanks for watching and commenting, my father loved Mopar and this track.
When I was a kid, it was called PRP or Phoenix Raceway Park. On Saturday nights, they would let us kids in for free. Sort of, a payment for the sound disturbance. I remember it as just the drag strip. When I was old enough to race my car, they had added the sand drag and the midget track.
Great video! Thanks for posting it.
That's hard to watch, so many memories there. Thanks for making that!
thanks for watching, I wonder how many of us watching this could have been there at the same time...
I was raised at this track. Bob Curly the original owner of it (PRP) was one of the greatest people this world will ever have.
I agree
az kid yeah I went to college in the late 80s in Phoenix and PRP was my place to be. I remember Bob well. then coletti or something like that owned it. what happened?
Hi, the track was originally established and run by Mel Larson, also of NASCAR fame, many years ago. It was designated as an emergency air strip. It was known simply as Mel Larson's. I think it may have been even before Beeline Dragway.
Bob Curly was the BEST!
They all have a price..wonder how much himm and other owners received to sellout..leased land or whatever.did a group muscle these guys out.builders swarming just south.now surprise.not wittmann..
Ran there back in '06 or '08. Scorpians in the lanes at 2: 00 AM was extra special!
I have so many memories, watching my dad Bobby Reeder race his 72 cuda "Working Overtime" , the school drags between American technical center, uti, I believe there was one more auto mechanic school as well. working the time booth. boy I thought I was big stuff working that time booth. I have been trying to find out if anyone remembers the Bobby Reeder memorial drags starting in 1988. I believe they did them for 5 years. or on how to get info on my daddy's eta number.
Was anyone apart of the PRP division 7 team in the 90s? Fun times! The Steppin Back Nostalgia Drags and ADRA events were always a good time too. I worked the time slip booth for a long time as a kid.
I went to adra events with my father he won adra rookie of the year 2002, I remember the midnight drags , it was for street racers and it was nice and cold at night during the winter , cars loved it!
I'm a build a PRP memorial page on Fb. Fry to get everyone to post pics and whatnot. He able to relive the moment through everyones story's
I'll be looking for that Fb page. I can't wait.
My uncle had a 1989 ford ranger with nitrous and it was the definition of sleeper had a grey hood with scoop and a black water based paint body best time was like 11.249 and it beat a brand new ford lightning some of you may know him his name was Lynn pringle
Did some laps in a Formula Ford on the road course there when it was owned by Mel Larson, a LONG time ago.
I had no Idea they did that kind of racing thanks for sharing ,it gives us more history on this place we all miss.
El LamÒ 😁 sweet vid, sucks that place is shutdown
Please shoot a video of the motocross track that is also shut down there!!! Great work.
I haven't been back out , but here's a video you might enjoy by Jim Boomer
ruclips.net/video/cJXJzoVvHog/видео.html
enjoy!
Thanks!
nice video! great shots!
thank you !
maaaann if someone could use vegas pro and over lay old race footage through this.
great video!
I may get the motivation and time someday to do that , thanks!
This is very cool. Definitely made me sniffle a bit. It's amazing to me how fast nature is reclaiming the paved areas. It's also really sad how the buildings were vandalized. People have no respect nowadays. What drone did you use? I'm thinking of getting one. Yours seem to fly well and take really nice pictures! What is the range?
thanks Marvin, definitely sad to see a place where good times happened come to a sad end like this.
I used a phantom 3 professional, the new phantom 4 is coming out soon though so I'd wait for that , it has a few more features like obstacle avoidance. the range on the Phantom 3 professional is over 3 miles on a good day .
please share with other race fans if you would please .
Madness they closed it!
raced there when it was Mel Larsons
thanks for all the likes and comments guys, keep em coming, thanks again !
I have a link in the video description , it's an article about the closure .
thanks for watching , please share.
AND ...WE keep relinquishing OUR GROUND...where's the freedom??
Where is it?
Is this the old Phoenix Raceway in Wittman near Sun City? We raced there !!! One of my last DRAGBIKE! events!
it's just off of grand a little past Sun City
Yes, It has had a couple different names over the years. The first "Drag Strip" name was Mel Larson's.
ruclips.net/video/hsiqUCOjkuM/видео.html
there's a couple more if you check phoenixsmerk other videos
Well, that was depressing.....
I know it was hard to produce , had me in tears to be honest so many good times .
Rip
Looks a lot like an airport, was it one before being converted to a drag strip?
Yes, it was an emergency landing strip for a period of time.
went to the vw world finals there in 98....
depressing!
I know how depressing it is I literally cried during the editing
Great video, something very sad about an abandoned drag strip, closed down because of major facility upgrades demanded by the local government...support your local track guys.
you said it !
and its true!
thanks for commenting and the support.
Please expand on what/whom wanted the upgrades and what they were seeking. Track looks huge and far away from residences...?
+DestroyAllorNothing I don't know the specifics.
www.dragzine.com/news/arizonas-speedworld-raceway-forced-to-close/
here's an article on the closure.
+DSMerkonmyface thanks. unbelievable story, the local government lied to these people, stole their money and ultimately shut this track down for no good reason. IF anyone cares, visit their FB page and read the documents in the pic section. Our governments are out of control and stories like this are far too common these days. This track was in operation for over a half a century and made a ton of memories for people and the government has stolen the ability for that to continue. In addition, the EPA is trying to steal our etire hobby, government officials are drunk with power and we must fight back or all dragstrips will look like this one. rant over...
Is this track for sale? I need a place to test our cars.
I couldn't tell you because I dont know ,if you click the link at the top of the description it'll explain why it closed, if that helps any... thanks for watching .
What kind of drone do you have?
Phantom 3 pro
please like and share, I'd love to hear your memories of Phoenix Raceway Park aka Speedworld.
this video definitely made me have flashbacks, I remember making a run and I was scared I wouldn't know where to go once the strip ends... it ended up being easier than I thought and more fun than I even expected. this was my dad's favorite place to race :-) he won often... Mo power with Mopar
+Christina Garunovic
:) thanks for helping me smile sister, funny I drive a dart now
I remember when I first driven a
Jr. dragster here in 2012 and I have a lot memories like one where my cousin crashed his car and another one was when I used to do big wheels here and this track was really the backbone to my racing career I love this track so much I will miss it a lot 😭😭
This was the track where the show pinks was started and filmed at. Was there for a race and filming of an episode.
a question why they closed that track ??
Link in video description
@@DSMerkonmyface Thanks .. I already saw it, it's a shame what happened to that track
Damn shame! Why did it close?
Shit box link in the description there is a dragzine link its an article that breaks it down.
Cool thanks!
@phxxr650r the insurance company.lol you people are soo asleep to reality...ins companies are dime a dozen..factoid: ins companies are money driven...he who has fatter wallet wins...payoff anyone??? They did it to me when i refused to sign..fire department expansion into my area..no fire hydrant near by.really? First 15 years was no problem.wittmann is being land grabbed....look is that surprise az annexing land illegally on speedworlds backdoor