Drag Illustrated Issue 127, November 2017 | Page 48

D.I. COLUMNIST On the Road with Van Abernethy T o completely capture the scenic mountain range that stretches across the land- scape just past the shutdown area of Mason Dixon Dragway, you’d need a lens much wider than the one I was using when I snapped this column photo in late October. Honestly, it’d be difficult to do those mountains justice with a single snapshot any- way, so that’s all the more reason to plan a trip to visit this classic quarter-mile facility located in Boonsboro, Maryland. Famously, the Appalachian Trail snakes its way through those moun- tains, and occasionally you can even look out the window of the drag strip’s timing tower with binoculars and see hikers travers- ing the trail which stretches nearly 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine. Boonsboro is an exceptional locale if you like rural places to race, and well, hike. In addition to the tiny post office and single stoplight, the town is home to a heavily visit- ed ice cream shop and a drag strip…that’s about the extent of Boonsboro. As for those sce- nic mountains that border the drag strip, they can work for you and sometimes they can work against you. For certain, they add a touch of majesty to the scenery, but the last time track owner El- mer Wachter booked in a couple of jet cars back in the late 1980s, the “burner pops” bounced off the moun- tains and caused a farmer’s cows to stampede right through the electric fence! “I try hard to get along with our neighbors, so I haven’t booked any jets since,” Wachter says. He’ll routinely go the extra mile when it comes to being a good neighbor, sort of like the time he made friends with a neighboring church by constructing a park- ing lot for them. “The church was never against us, but it was where the whole town would meet during the 1980s whenever they wanted to discuss some- thing about the drag strip,” Wachter laughs. Wachter is a Mary- land native who grew up with a strong interest in cars, and raced often at the now-defunct 75-80 Dragway in Monrovia, Maryland. He first came to Mason Dixon, then called Mason Dixon Drag-O-Way, back in 1967 to race his 1964-model Oldsmobile. Years later, he was an active member of the famous Wild Bunch, which included the likes of Camp Stanley, Tod Mack, Tommy 1961, but when it did open to the public, it’s been in continuous operation ever since.” Amazingly, the track was first sanctioned by NASCAR, which hap- pened during the oval racing series’ short stint in drag racing in the 1960s. “For- mer track operator Fred Bear gave me a Mason Dixon winner’s jacket with NASCAR sanction on it. I had it cleaned and framed, and it hangs in my house,” Wachter says. After NASCAR pulled out of drag racing, the track joined with NHRA, where Howes, Denny Brightwell, Buck Proctor and many more entertainers who tirelessly toured the East Coast from Canada to Florida. Wachter was invited to be a partner in operat- ing Mason Dixon Dragway in 1988, so he agreed and has been there ever since, eventually buying out his partner’s interest in 1993. When Wachter and his wife, Cathy, first came to operate Ma- son Dixon, the track was still quite primitive, even in the late 1980s. “The track was built in 1959, but didn’t actually open to the public until 1961,” Wachter says. “Prior to that, a car club held a meet here. Very little racing was done prior to it remains sanctioned to this pres- ent day. During Elmer and Cathy’s in- volvement, they’ve made many updates to the track, which in- clude replacing the ancient timing equipment. “When we first came here the scoreboards would simply read something like ‘945’ and we’d have to look it up in the book and it would translate to something like ‘111 mph’ and so we’d hand-write the info on a card and drop it down a chute, where a girl would hand it out the window to the driver,” Wachter recalls. The track had no guard walls or lights, so it was strictly a daytime track. The property was also over- run in places with brush, briars and honeysuckle. Wachter had no equipment in the beginning, but he was able to borrow some from his neighbors, just so he could make the track more presentable. “We had very limited anything!” Wachter remembers. Fewer than 40 total entries was a normal turnout for an event, al- though that quickly soared to nearly 120 cars. The racing surface was eventually widened from 42 feet to 60 feet, and concrete barriers and lights were installed. “We’ve done well with the track,” Wachter believes, “and even though it doesn’t make money like it did prior to 2008, I think we’ve held our own pretty well.” The track is in op- eration Friday through Sunday, with a di- verse offering of test- n-tunes and bracket racing on the eighth mile, as well as the full 1,320. Mason Dixon is also the hub of the Southern Bracket Rac- ing Association. Spe- cial events throughout the year include huge Mopar, Ford and die- sel meets, as well as a nostalgia race that brings in 300-plus cars. The MANDRA nostalgia series visits twice yearly, and the local Pro Stick clutch car club usu- ally pencils in four events per season. Most of the staff who find their way to Mason Dixon usually settle in for an extended stay, especially longtime announcer Mike Bassin, who’s a 54-year veteran of drag strip announcing, beginning his career at 75-80 Dragway. “My son-in-law also likes working here most of the time; other times he says he’s quitting ev- ery other day, but hey, sometimes I feel the same way!” Wachter laughs. All things considered, a contrary word is seldom heard, but if anyone decided they needed to quite liter- ally “take a hike”, at least the Appa- lachian Trail is well within sight! DI DI DI DI DI DI DI 48 | D r a g I l l u s t r a t e d | DragIllustrated.com I s s u e DI 1 2 DI 7 DI