D.I. COLUMNIST
On the Road
with Van Abernethy
F
ew people have ever been
as determined to refurbish
a dilapidated drag strip as
Jim and Mary Ledford were in 1975
when they decided to resurrect the
Mid Michigan Motorplex. In many
ways the labor-intensive project
didn’t exactly make perfect sense
to all observers, especially when
considering the Ledfords already
owned a perfectly good and operational race track (a facility they built
from scratch in 1970), located in the
northwest corner of the state.
Nevertheless, their interest in
restoring Mid Michigan Motorplex occurred when many of their
racers began driving up from the
middle of the state to race at the
Ledford’s track in Kaleva, all the
while persuading them to consider
reopening the long-abandoned drag
strip located in the central Michigan
town of Stanton. So, upon the urging of their midway clientele, Jim
and Mary decided to strike out on
the 120-mile journey to the heart of
Michigan to evaluate what it would
take to make the track operational
again.
Mid Michigan Motorplex lies
on a vintage piece of real estate
that originally operated as an early 1950s-era airport before being
converted to what was then called
Central Michigan Dragway. Eventually, the track closed in 1968 and
remained shuttered for seven years
before the Ledfords came to take an
objective gander at the place. At the
time, the property was being used
by skydivers who realized the vacant
drag strip made a perfect landing
spot after taking a leap of faith from
an airplane.
The Ledfords had other ideas,
though, and decided to take their
own leap of faith. So, after bidding
farewell to their northern Michigan home, they loaded their family
station wagon with a few possessions, as well as their two young
sons, Mike and Jeff, and headed
for Stanton. They not only traveled in the wagon, they also slept
in it at the track for the first two
weeks. “Our boys would lay on the
front and back seats, while Jim and
I slept long ways in the back of the
wagon,” recalls Mary. She and Jim
worked tirelessly until dark, and
then retired to the wagon
for a good night’s sleep.
Pretty soon the area
racers heard about the
Ledford’s efforts to reopen
their local track, so they
sprang into action to lend
a hand. Thankfully, there
was an active well on the
property, so someone came out and
installed an old-fashioned pitcher
pump, so they could draw water and
enjoy something that resembled a
bath. Somehow or other an outhouse was also acquired. A short
time later, another racer brought
them an old camper, which was actually a huge upgrade in accommodations for the family after several
nights sleeping in a station wagon.
The volunteer army continued to
grow, and a groundswell of support
rallied around the Ledfords to help
them bring back to life this drag
tried to talk, not to mention lingering burnout
smoke would drift in
and out when the wind
was just right. Regardless of the incomplete
renovations, the opening weekend was a huge
success and the Ledfords
kept the track open that year for as
long as they could before the cold
Michigan winter set in.
On the property stood a tiny
shack of a house and when the occupants moved out, Jim, Mary and the
kids moved in. Also on the grounds
stood an old airplane hangar left
over from the airport days. Legend
has it the likes of Garlits, Kalitta,
Karamesines and other early pioneers of drag racing used to hole up
in that hanger in the 1960s to play
cards well into the night.
Other memorable tales go back
strip that had been long forgotten.
They worked around the clock all
summer long with a goal of having
their grand opening on Labor Day
Weekend in September 1975—a goal
they proudly reached. Jim and Mary
were actually putting the finishing
touches on the timing tower they
had built themselves when they
opened the gates for their grandopening weekend 41 years ago.
“The tower wasn’t exactly finished
though, it didn’t have any doors,”
Mary laughingly confesses.
Since the burnout box was positioned directly beneath the tower,
the ear-splitting sound of race motors rattled through the tower and
echoed loudly while the announcer
even further. On Mary’s desk she
keeps a copy of a Midwest coverage paper called Drag Times dated
July 18, 1958, with a 20-cent price
on its cover. There’s a story in there
about a guy from Tucson, Arizona,
who clocked a record 10.10 at 155.17
mph on Mid Michigan’s quartermile, while driving what was then
considered to be the “World’s Fastest Roadster.” Then, almost two decades later in 1996, Top Fuel driver
Blaine Johnson clocked 4.68 at 307
mph during a match race at Mid
Michigan—at a time when the national record was just 4.64 seconds!
Tragically, Johnson died about three
months later in a crash at the U.S.
Nationals in Indy and the Ledfords
held a heart-touching memorial for
Johnson at Mid Michigan.
Two years later, Mary stood at the
exact spot on the track and held another memorial, this time for her
beloved husband, Jim Ledford, who
died at age 55 from heart complications. He passed away a few days
before Christmas in 1998 and his
funeral was held on December 24th.
The Johnson family flew in to honor
the man who had so greatly lifted
them up after their own loss. When
the reality set in for Mary, she seriously wondered if she was going to
be able to move forward. But her
children came in and helped her get
the track open for the 1999 season.
“I had to mentally pro gram myself
to get up each day and do this,” she
declares.
Just one-year prior, she and Jim
oversaw a massive remodeling of
the track, including just about every
conceivable renovation you could
imagine, including a massive new
tower. Suddenly, it was now up to
Mary to keep the place going. “It
was a terrifying time in my life,” she
admits, reflecting on Jim’s passing
18-years ago. With gritty determination she pushed forward. She eventually remarried five years ago to a
man who also had lost his spouse.
“No one understands that loneliness
until you experience it,” she confides.
“There will always be a spot in my
heart for Jim, but there’s always
enough room to let someone else in.”
Her husband, Chris Rasmussen,
is a life-long farmer, while Mary
continues to oversee the operation
of Mid Michigan Motorplex. She’ll
be 68 on her next birthday and
sometimes fondly (although in disbelief ) recalls the weeks of sleeping
in a station wagon when she was
in her 20s. “I look back now and
can’t believe we actually did that,”
she says.
While she still passionately talks
up all things racing, it should come
as no surprise that Mary Ledford
sometimes contemplates retirement.
“I’ve got aches and pains and I’m getting tired,” she confesses. She and
Chris dream of traveling someday.
“All I’ve ever known is drag racing,
so I’m kinda curious to see what
the rest of the world does on their
weekends.”
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60 | D r a g
I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com
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Issue 111