COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

Does anyone have any pics from the now gone columbus county dragstrip in chabourn/whiteville, north carolina?

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

Joe,
I can not get these to come out good taking them with my Camara.My scanner is not working.
But I do have a few and my Mom & Dad I am sure have a few more.

As my Dad (Jr. McLamb) he ran this track for over 15 years..They started back when they had to flag the cars off..You might not know this But they where one of the first tracks in this area to get a Christmas tree back in the 60s.
It use to be a 1/4 mile track untill Hwy.74 came through.Then it was cut back to an 1/8 mile track.

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Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

The Orange camaro on the far side is Robert Bullard.And yes it was a 4-Speed that is all he use to run was a Clutch..He also use to drive Daddy Car when he had the 4-speed in it in SS/K it was the Duster picture below.

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Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

thanks kevin,i'd like to get copies of those pics.i'm trying to get a scrap book together for daddy .he was not much on pictures, so he doesn't have any.he talks alot of those days with your daddy,buster, robert and him. of coarse all us younguns runnin around,having a good time.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

The Duster looks to be an old Ron Lyles car by the paint scheme.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

I dont have any pictures,only memories,I raced their many times on Sunday afternoon back in the 70s.It is nice to still see some of the people that raced back then still racing today.It was a long haul every Sunday about 300 miles round trip but it was something that I looked foward to.
Allen Lambert

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

One of the cars also was Curtis Smith's Hot Stuff stocker.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

That is where he got the Paint scheme from..He started racing that duster back in 1976 in SS/K.
Then I started driving it in H/R then we put a Tube chassis under it and ran some 9.90 & 8.90 Classes.
It is still racing Local today in Brackets at Red Springs.

Here is a Picture of it when I was driving it .

http://c3.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/i...3a2fc4bdc6.jpg

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

Joe,
I change the pictures you can see them better now...

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

The siver Camaro by the van looks like Randy Mason and Warren Plowden's "Nobleman".
Bob Rice

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

The red Roadrunner looks like the late Billy West...the blue Roadrunner is Johnny Fishers C/SA car (it was a real six pack car, not a clone) and the blue "Bustin' Loose" Vega was out of John Wests' shop and if my memory is correct was Steve Coats.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

thanks again kevin.the 63 in the pic w/ the guy on the fence looks like the stocker daddy had so much success.also i remember the hi riser of rosevelt revels,wlid thang of harold dentons.also the red snapper and el torro,but i don't remember those drivers. i'm also looking for pics of fayetteville and dunn-benson of 70-75.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

Bob,
That was Randy Manson in the Nobleman Camaro...
You should of seen him one Sunday during the race.His Hood came up this was over half way the track Some how he still Won that race..

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

When I first read this post I was only going to reply only to one person's post. After reading all of them I was to let each person who has posted here concerning this old track and others who have family members or friends who raced or attended races back in those day to go to Henderson, North Carolina in October each year for the East Coast Drag Times Reunion and Hall of Fame Inductions. There are guys mention on this thread who are either no longer with us, Billy West, Harold Stewart (El Torro), Gene Hinson, Ronnie Sox, Ron Lyles, Don Carlton, and the list gets longer each year. If you were out there racing with us or you were there as a spectator come out on Saturday, see the old race cars and either meet folks you haven't seen in a long time or that you never had the chance to meet. There are so many cars which have been restored or are the original cars on display. On Sunday at the induction ceremony there is a room set aside for old scrap books and news papers. When you look through the scrape books of Billy West, Gene Hinson, Tom "Smoker" Smith and so many more you will remember the old tracks, Easy Street, Broad Slab, Sanford, Person County, Piedmont, Concord, 258 Dragway, etc., and cars.

Mr. Bret Kepner, who is the emcee for the induction ceremony has a data base of all of the drag strips around the world. Last year he pointed out that North Carolina is third in the country for the number of drag strips that have operated over the years.

Concerning the old pictures. During the years that we raced, my brother took Literally a Closet Full of photographs. Before the reunion, this past year, he got out some boxes and we went through, scanned and made a CD, "North Carolina Drag Racing 60's & 70"s". This CD has photos of The Pilgrim (Billy West), Melvin Yow, Gold Finger ( Bobby Brown), Rapid Rocket (Bill Rowland), Bad News (Chester Raybourn) Sinclair Chevrolet (Ronnie Sox) Bad Thang (Harold Denton) Good Time Charlie Brown (Mike Boyle), Starliner (Alan Starr), and the list can go on. I will look through our files and see if I have some from Columbus County already scanned.

If anyone has any question concerning the reunion please contact me, we always have a good time each year seeing folks we haven't seen in many years and seeing the ones who do return each year.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

I also can tell you that Daddy use to have Motorcycle races to at the track and George Byrce Yes the NOW NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle Owner use to come and race with them.He drove back then.He stayed in Conway S.C. at that time..

My Dad told us about Roy Hill when he first started going to That track he was Real Young and cought rides to the tracks with people like Harold Denton & Herb McCandles

I even remember Ricky Smith in his Ford Maverick Modified Car name "Country Shindig"

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

On Google Earth I can see a little of the old track left across #74, looks like two strips with grass in the middle. I guess none of the starting line or tower is left?

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

I stopped by a few yrs ago. Asphalt was still there although overgrown. The tower was still standing but delapadated. Far end of the track is now an industrial park. A ghost track but it still brought back memories.
Kevin may know its present state.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

Corbin,
Beleive it or Not I was working that way today and went by the old track..It is all growed up you can still tell where the staring line was..The Tower is still there but is falling down...Sure had alot of fun there.
Only bad thing when Daddy & Buster had the track we had to work there and did not get to race other places that much..Which I was still to Young to race..But Daddy did not get to go like he would like.

Kevin

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

I remember Dell Britt showing off popping wheelies on the return road with his elCamino and busting the oil pan.
I remember Buddy Hickman running through the fence at the other end of the track with his BMP 63 vette.
I remember racing there a few times before the track closed.
Always had a good time.
Chip

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

When did it run till? Sounds like maybe late 70's.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

Till around the mid 80s

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There are a couple of pictures on here of my dads old Thames panel "Southern Thunder". He looked at them and remembered that day well. He said Bobby Warren beat him at 4 cars. I wasn't around in those days but I'm lucky to get to hear a lot of war stories from J.W. Taylor, Bobby Brown, Thomas Cashwell, and my dad. They have tons of good stories from the 60's and 70's.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

i remember charlie blaylock wrecking a red convertible corvette i think he just bought from bobby warren,wiping out the lights on the top end.white lightning mustang discarding trans case right off the starting line.jimmy jacksons six cylider g\gas anglia.when nathan howell brought the cheetah to the track with a narrowed rearend and ladder bar suspension, the first in the area at that time.my last tim at the track was 1975,a sunday fall day. daddy was running a 78 roadrunner ss/ca hemi,that broke the crankshaft on top end and scattered the tranny.that ended his drag racing until i started racing 4 years ago.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

I'm glad to know Bobby & J.W. and those guys are still around. Stay tuned I'm going to try to put a couple of old Sanford photos on this site.

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Wow, looking back on some old posts before I got an account on here and saw dad's race car (the "Hot Stuff" Camaro) on here. We still have and race that same car in Stock Eliminator! I know this thread is almost two years old but if there is anyway you can email me the two pictures that is of dad, I would really appreciate it. I love looking at all these old photos of back in the day. The two pictures, are the third picture down on the second column and the fourth picture down on the second column. Let me know, and I can give you my email address.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

I was wondering how I missed this thread when it originated a couple of years ago and then I realized that it was started just after my dad (Robert Bullard) had passed away. I am sure I have many photos that I could have contributed. That was our "home" track and where I first drove a car and learned how to race. We raced there every Sunday afternoon and Friday nights when they would run on Friday nights. Great racing.... when racing was racing!!

Clay

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

I'm glad this thread came back. I had forgotten about it and have since gotten alot of old photos out from tracks around the state. There were so many dragstrips in North Carolina, when you go through boxes of old photographs it is hard to determine which track is which after so many years. If your are an old racer like me, get the photos out and show them to your children and grandchildren. Tell them some of the stories associated with the photos, the cars and the racers that raced them. If you don't pass down the stories, when you and I are gone there will be no history of the fun we had at these tracks and racing in those days.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

I was in Whiteville today and went by the Old Drag Strip (columbus county dragstrip ) I stop and took a couple of pictures there was not much there but it took me back to the good old days.The first picture is when it was running back in the day.Then the old starting line and what is left of the tower.

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Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

It is sad to see what the old Columbus County Dragstrip looks like now. I raced their many times years ago on Sunday afternoon. In the area I live we too had A nice old Dragstrip that was full of cars and spectators on Fri & Sat nights for many years. But the owners saw $$$ signs and sold it to A home builder and the track was closed and tore up, That was 5-6 years ago. I drove past the old location about 1 year ago and I did not see 1 home built. Well that was then and this is now. Times changes,some time for the good and sometimes not so good. Allen

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

Wow did this bring back memories from when I was a little girl. My dad was Harold Stewart and he owned El Toro. There is nothing more heart warming than to know he is still remembered 28 years after he passed away. If you have any pictures, I would be thrilled to see them.

Re: COLUMBUS COUNTY DRAGSTRIP in NC
 

Did Gene Hinson race a 1964 Plymouth Hemi(new in 1964)
(Red)...
Thanks